Naruto: Unsatisfied
by Dnome Warlock
Summary: Naruto tried his best to win the Fourth Great Shinobi War, but he still lost. Unsatisfied with his failure, he travels back in time to change everything that has happened. Not to when he was younger, but to the beginning, before he was even born.
1. Chapter 1: SOSN

Hello everybody, just wanted to let you know that I don't own Naruto.

Also, I'm sorry for taking so long with getting back to this story. Life kinda kicked me in the butt. I've been out of writing for a while, so my imagination and writing have to get back in the groove. I also need to change some things, since it wouldn't come close to how the story is playing out right now in the manga.

Course, this is an AU, so I'm keeping many things the same and 'forgetting' some of the things in the manga. Such as Naruto's Super Kyuubi Mode. It is badass, but way too straight forward. It does all the things Sage mode does, kinda, times ten. Actually was kinda disappointed to tell you the truth. Anyway, sry for the long intro, here's the story.

-_"The third war was devastating to all the nations involved, and to this day many hate Konoha for some of the things we had to do in order to win."_

**Chapter 1: Start of Something New**

"Hokage-sama," the ANBU messenger known as Panther spoke in a formal tone as he addressed the Sandaime. "We have taken back the village of Wanaka and have successfully driven out the remaining Iwa nin that attacked Kasaki village to the north. As of now, Jiraiya of the Sannin is requesting relief for his team and team Ryuu. Both are tired and Ryuu-san has an injured member."

"Who is injured," the Third asked, curious.

"Uchiha Mikoto," the ANBU answered.

Sarutobi sighed as he continued to look at the map on his desk. Never before had he felt this stressed in his life. Stressed and still very much confused. A little over five months ago Iwa had determined that Konoha had too much land, land that they claimed belonged to them. The fact that the land they wanted was rich in agriculture and other minerals did not escape anyone's notice, and Sarutobi knew that they just started the war because they wanted it for themselves.

However, what really confused the Hokage was the action of two other Great Shinobi countries. Not a week after Iwa nins attacked the village of Kasaki, a major trade village close to the Iwa border, Cloud and Sand declared war on Konoha as well. Neither village had given a reason why, they just attacked. Cloud easily slipped through Ta no Kuni, killing their Daimyo and declaring it a part of Cloud, and advanced on the village Wanaka. Wanaka was not huge or important, but it did give the enemy a foot hold to advance further into Hi no Kuni.

Luckily for the Land of Fire, the Mist chose that time to attack and take over Wave country, a small yet important port village. The Cloud immediately took this as an act of aggression and withdrew most of the shinobi they had in Wanaka and replaced them with Samurai, for some reason believing that Konoha would have too much of a task in forcing back Iwa's forces as well as the Suna nins that infiltrated southwest Fire country. They were wrong.

Iwa, in a strategic blunder had decided that Ame no Kuni would be easy pickings and provide the perfect shortcut right into Hi no Kuni. Sarutobi was not sure what possessed the Tsuchikage in believing that Hanzo the Salamander was getting too old to stop them, but the Hokage was not complaining. While Iwa nins were being decimated in Rain country, it allowed Sarutobi to spread out his ninja and the Fire Daimyo's samurai to other parts of the country to help defend. He had Jiraiya and his team, along with six other ninja squads, and five hundred Samurai head to Kasaki to retake the village as well as push what remained of the Iwa nin back to Earth Country.

Trusting Jiraiya to not need too much help taking back control of the north for the time being gave the Hokage the freedom to send Tsunade, along with four other squads, to take back Wanaka and defend the border to Kumo controlled Ta no Kuni. The Fire Daimyo allowed Sarutobi to give Tsunade control over one hundred of his Samurai for support, but he doubted they were going to be needed. From the way things were going and the reports he was receiving, he did not think Kumo would send too many ninjas to aid their Samurai and the two squads of nin guarding Wanaka and its surrounding area.

Suna was a little harder to deal with and was a lot harder to push back. With Cloud and Rock separating its forces due to its own blunders, they could not attack Hi no Kuni with its full effort. Mist threatened to advance on Kumo causing Cloud to be on the defensive, and Rock was having a hard time with Hanzo and his considerable might as the Salamander killed any Rock nin that he could find within fifty miles of his border.

However, Sand was a different story altogether. It had no need to split its forces and attacked with all its might. It had made it a few hundred miles into Hi no Kuni, coming uncomfortably close to Hi no Kuni's largest city and home of the Fire Daimyo. Seeing as the Daimyo only had around a thousand of his Samurai left and only the 12 Ninja Guardians to protect him, the Hokage had to act fast and hard. Therefore, he sent his ANBU second in command, Uchiha Keisha, some of his ANBU corps (around 50), five other jonin squads, Orochimaru of the Sannin, Danzo the Fire Breather, and Hatake Sakumo, Konoha's White Fang.

As Sarutobi looked down at the map before him he was proud to say that his planning was right on the money. Mist did indeed attack Cloud, very strongly in fact, which prevented them from sending backup to Wanaka and allowed Tsunade to take Wanaka village back and guard it with relative ease for the time being. Also, Hanzo had done Sarutobi a favor by killing two of Rock's Diamond Brothers, brothers with large amounts of chakra and a bloodline that allowed them to make their skin tougher than diamonds. That gave Jiraiya the chance to take on only one of the brothers instead of all three as he fought to take back Kasaki, and even though it sounded from the reports that his team was exhausted, in the end they had won that battle.

Sarutobi gave out a buff from his pipe and looked at the ANBU messenger. "And how goes the fight with Sand. The last I was told we had driven them almost all the way back to their border," he asked. The Hokage wasn't surprised that the Sand was driven back as quickly as it had considering the Shinobi that he sent there to take them on. As a matter of fact, he would not be surprised if they had destroyed and killed all the poor souls that wore a Sand symbol on them.

The ANBU shifted uncomfortably for a second before answering the question. "All is well, as of now Hokage-sama. However, in the week separating the reports from the field, our forces ran into a setback."

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow at that. What force could possibly slow them down?

"It was the Kazekage," the messenger answered the unasked question in the Hokage's mind. "He set a trap that instantly killed or injured many of the Samurai as well as twenty-one ANBU. Thunder (Uchiha Keisha's ANBU name) had her right arm torn off in the trap as well. In the fight that ensued after the Kazekage and his escort made their presence known, Danzo-san was also severely injured; however, before the Kazekage defeated him he was able to kill all but one of the Sand Special Unit (Kazekage escort). The White Fang and Orochimaru of the Sannin were able to kill the last one as well as mortally wound the Kazekage. From the reports of the wounds, it is believed he died before he made it back to Suna," the masked ANBU messenger finished with what could be interpreted as pride in his voice.

Sarutobi nodded and asked if there was anything else to report. When he said there was not, he told the messenger to get Tears, the ANBU commander. When the messenger left, he let out a loud sigh and sat down in his seat to think. Uchiha Keisha was going to be hard to replace, as were the twenty-one ANBU that had fallen. But it was not as bad of a loss that it could have been considering the Kazekage had shown up to fight. He had not expected the Kazekage to show up, at least not this early in the game. Was Suna that desperate to take Konoha down? He wondered ideally if perhaps the Kazekage had been as stupid as Cloud and underestimated the Will of Fire. Surly he had reports of who were leading Konoha's counter strike.

Perhaps it was suicide. Sarutobi just found it hard to believe that the Suna Kage had been arrogant enough to take on not one, but two Kage level opponents in Hatake Sakumo the White Fang and Orochimaru of the Sannin, as well as a ninja ranked S-class in all foreign bingo books in Danzo the Fire Breather. Perhaps it was a ploy? Perhaps a means to something else? Perhaps it was not even the Kazekage but someone else? Now that was disturbing to even contemplate. Jiraiya's spy network should have picked up on someone in Suna that was Kage level if that was the case. Perhaps it was just what it sounded like, a ninja who got in over his head.

The Hokage's thoughts were interrupted by a slight shimmer in the air before there was a poof of smoke and leafs. Standing in front of him was Tears, real name Mitarashi Ken, ANBU Commander. "Hokage-sama," the man bowed before standing straight and waiting for Sarutobi to tell him what he wanted. Sarutobi always liked his mask, shaped in the form of a tear drop. It was very different from the others.

"I need you to send a squad of ANBU and five medics to Tashika Village. Danzo and many others have been hurt and need immediate backup, medical attention and supplies," the Hokage answered him. "Also, what squad teams are ready to go on relief missions?"

"As of now, there are twenty-five Squads that are waiting for orders, not including the genin," Tear answered without hesitation.

Sarutobi nodded, thinking who best to send in Jiraiya's spot. Perhaps Uchiha Daraki? No, a Hyuuga would probably be best. But Jiraiya was a big shoe to fill, so to speak. Yes, it would be better to send both a Hyuuga as well as an Uchiha. He only hope that they would be able to work together.

"Bring me…" but the Hokage didn't finish, instead he shot to his feet, looking out his window and peering around. Tears flew to the window and opened it, indicating that he felt the sudden spike in chakra as well. He calmly walked out to the balcony, unconsciously noting the nine ANBU in the shadows were awaiting his orders.

He closed his eyes for a moment to concentrate and get a better feel for where the chakra spike was coming from. When he found it he frowned. The amount of chakra he could feel was a very large amount and had a peculiar feel to it. It was not a ninjutsu, it was taking too long for that. Perhaps a Genjutsu? No, the Hokage thought, too noticeable. The Hokage's eyes flew open as he realized why it felt off. It was some kind of Fuinjutsu, and he didn't want to know what this particular jutsu, with its huge chakra amount, was going to do to his beloved Konoha.

He turned to Tears, and although he was looking at him, he was addressing all the ANBU with him. He knew that aside from himself and Tears, who could sense chakra spikes from far distances thanks to specialized training, that the other ANBU had no idea what was going on. They only knew that their Hokage and ANBU commander were both uptight and looking very much like they were about to go to war. "Tears, stay with me, the rest of you follow in the shadows." With that he jumped onto the nearest building and sped over the roof tops. He moved as fast as he could and with satisfaction noted that even at the age of forty five, he was still faster than the ANBU that followed behind him.

When he reached the Hokage monument he put the right amount of chakra to his feet and sped up the wall noticing with some worry that the chakra spike he had felt was considerably lesser now, and becoming more so with every step he took. When he finally reached the top, he could no longer feel it at all. As a matter of fact, the only thing he could sense was another person. Looking around only for a split second to check for traps, he sped towards the only person he could see up on the monument.

The person was bent over and breathing rather deeply. He also seemed to be clutching his stomach and groaning in pain. Taking the opportunity to end this quickly to ensure that the man could not run away, he made five quick hand signs and pressed his right hand to the ground. "_**Douton: Four Hand Trap." **_Instantly four arms made of earth shot out of the ground and grabbed the man's arms and legs, making him straighten and shriek in surprise.

The Sandaime walked up to the man and stood only a meter in front of him, eyeing him suspiciously. Not even a second later, Tears arrived behind the unknown man and held his short katana to the guy's throat. The man seemed quite young, perhaps 17 or 18. Had long, sun kissed blond hair that fell almost to his shoulders. He was tall, about the same height as Orochimaru, maybe taller. He wore a red Jonin vest, a black long sleeve shirt, and black pants with ninja issued sandals. He also wore a blood red short sleeved coat, the same color as his vest, with black flames blazing on the tail end. The Hokage narrowed his eyes when he saw the Konoha Leaf symbol on his forehead. From the man's body build, stature and emotionless face, as well as the amount of chakra he felt him using before he got here, the Hokage knew that the man was at least Jonin level. However….

"I know every ninja in this Village, so I know that you are not from Konoha," the Sandaime stated, which for some reason prompted the man to smirk. "Therefore, you will tell me who you are, how you were able to slip past the ANBU and other defenses along the walls, and which one of my comrades you killed to take that hitai-ate!"

The man was back to his emotionless mask, but none the less introduced himself. "Apologizes, Sandaime-sama. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, the Rokudaime of Konohagakure no Sato." Whatever the Hokage was expecting, it was not that, and it apparently showed on his face as the man smiled and lifted his chin. That is until Tears pressed his katana harder on the man's throat, so much so that the action drew some blood.

"You know," the Uzumaki boy hissed, "You don't have to do that. It's not like I can escape."

Tears seemed to shrug, "I have no problems slicing your throat if you continue to lie to the Hokage."

"Well I sure as hell do, especially since I'm not lying," the boy retorted.

Tears said nothing more to the man, instead he gave a significant look to the Hokage, who was still inspecting the boy. Sarutobi saw it, and Tears gave a pointed look at the man's back. Frowning, the Hokage moved around Uzumaki to look at what Tears wanted him to see. There, in Kanji, were the words Rokudaime Hokage.

Sarutobi didn't know how else to react but laugh. He couldn't believe the stupidity of wherever this guy was from. Did his Kage think that they could get a spy into Konoha by making him think that he had traveled through time? He felt insulted, and he felt the need to once again go out into the front lines and show these bastards that Sarutobi Hiruzen was no dumb, ageing fool!

"Do you think I am that stupid boy!" he yelled grabbing the boy's chin. "I may have been off the front lines for twelve years now, but I can assure you that my senses and skills are still well …." He didn't finish as the same person who he was trying to intimidate started laughing! Right in his face no less.

Uzumaki calmed down enough to finally talk after a minute. "I'm sorry, old man, but I've never seen you like that before. Not even when you yelled at me for playing that prank on you by turning all your underwear orange," Uzumaki finished with a wistful sigh. Sarutobi stared astonished at the boy for a second, and was about to give the order for Tears to take him to the interrogation unit when the boy spoke again.

"Tsunade baa-chan threw away the first Hokage's necklace when Nawaki died," he spoke softly, looking the Hokage right in the eye. Sarutobi stiffened. The only ones who knew about _that_ conversation and what lead to it were Tsunade and him. So how did this boy know about it?

"You found it below the firsts head, in the grass, right down there," the Uzumaki boy said pointing his head down to where the first Hokage's head was. "You took it to her, you found her at the memorial stone, and you said…"

"Silence!" Sarutobi snarled. "What have you done to Tsunade-hime!" Uzumaki didn't answer, instead turning back into that emotionless mask again. "Tell me!" he said dangerously as he grabbed the boy's throat. Tears quickly moved the sword from the boy's throat so it was not in the way.

If anything, however, the boy just looked annoyed, as though Sarutobi were getting on his nerves with the accusations. "I haven't done anything to Baa-chan. I'm sure if you send one of those nine ANBU hidden in the trees to the Village that you'll find her nice and safe in a bar gambling all her money away."

Sarutobi blinked at the boy. He seemed to speak the truth, and he could hear the affection that the boy held for Tsunade every time he called her baa-chan. But that didn't make any sense! It was impossible to travel back in time, at least not as far as the boy seemed to be indicating. But Sarutobi knew from the reports that Tsunade was fine, that no ninja could possibly defeat the Shinobi in Wanaka, capture her alive, and then break her to reveal all that sensitive information in only one week, which is the longest it takes to get reports back through messengers. He sighed. Perhaps he should hear the boy out.

"Then tell me, why are you here. Why travel back in time? And to this time of all times?" Sarutobi asked.

Naruto smiled sheepishly before answering, "Well, that's the funny thing. I have no idea what time period I'm in. Although I can guess that it must be a while back since you don't have all those wrinkles and grey hair on your face and stuff."

Sarutobi's eyebrow started to twitch at that, and he accidently squeezed Uzumaki's neck harder than was necessary. He was shocked when the boy let out a gurgle before buffing into smoke, and he heard a voice behind him.

"Sheesh Ojisan, what's with all the aggression. I think I liked you a lot better when you were older." Sarutobi turned to see the Uzumaki boy standing there, two hands on the back of his head, smiling widely at him. He also took notice of the sword that hug at his waist, its red and gold handle doing well to hide under the red short sleeved coat. That had not been on the clone. "You keep that up, and I'll have to use the jutsu I used to defeat you when I was 12."

The Sandaime was instantly curious. "And what Jutsu would that be?" he asked, already moving into a defensive stance.

Uzumaki's left eyebrow rose in surprise at the challenge before his face split into a fox like grin. "Well, if you really want to know." He crossed his hands into a modified version of the ram seal and six clones puffed into existence.

"_**Harem no Jutsu".**_


	2. Chapter 2: Intro

-_"I don't get it Iruka-sensei. Why are they mad at us when they started the War in the first place?"_

**Chapter 2: Introduction**

Naruto could not help but keep a smile on his face as he stared at the man responsible for making sure he never turned into a pre-chunin examine Gaara. The man whose kindness was once the sole reason he never turned his back on the Village. The man who taught him what it meant to be a shinobi, and a true Hokage. Granted, he looked a lot younger, maybe in his forties or so, but it did not matter. Every time the Sandaime turned around to glare at him as he tried to stop the bleeding from his nose, he saw him the way Naruto last saw him before he was killed by Orochimaru.

They were in the Hokage's office, Tears standing right behind him with his Ninja-to at the ready in case he turned out to be an enemy. He was sitting in the chair across from a still bleeding Sarutobi, who kept mumbling under his breath, '_that one looked exactly like Shion-chan when she was younger'_, all the while glaring darkly at him. Sarutobi left the blood stained napkin in his nose which only made Naruto smile wider.

"Now," the third began, "Before I make any decision on what to do with you, I am willing to hear you out. However, with your permission I would like to have an ANBU from the Yamanaka clan perform a jutsu that will let him know if you are lying. Do you accept these conditions?"

Naruto snorted. "Do I have a choice in the matter?"

"No," was the answer before the third waved a hand and a man with a killer whale mask on jumped to stand next to him. Naruto watched as the man went through eight hand signs before placing two fingers to his temple and then gave the Hokage a nod. Naruto smirked. No wonder Chouji was so mortified to ever lie to Ino when someone suggested it to get him out of trouble.

"Very well," the Hokage interrupted his inner musings. "We'll start with the simple questions first."

"Hokage-sama," Naruto interrupted to the displeasure of the two visible ANBU, although the third seemed to not mind. "If you can, please refrain from any questions outside that of my loyalty. At least until I prove who I am. Afterwards we can speak in private and I'll answer any other of your questions."

The third thought about it. It was a reasonable request and he understood the need for secrecy in this matter. Besides, the boy looked completely at ease and did not seem to lie to him yet. He nodded. "That is reasonable."

Naruto smiled cheekily. "Thanks old man." Said old man growled under his breath. "I mean, Hokage-sama. Yea, that's what I meant."

The third rolled his eyes. "Fine. First question, what is your true name?"

"Uzumaki Naruto," was his answer. Killer Whale nodded.

"Are you a leaf nin?"

"Yes"

"Are you loyal to the leaf?"

"Yes"

"Is everything that you told me on the Monument true?"

"Yes"

Sarutobi nodded, apparently satisfied with the answers. "Very well, we shall talk in private." He waved his hand and gave a signal and all those in the room departed, leaving the two Hokages.

The third started right away. "So, how did you manage to come back to this time period? I know of no method, no seal, that can perform such an act. And to my knowledge the only space/time fuinjutsu that can go back in time only takes the user back a half hour or so, any more and they would die."

Naruto took all of that in with shocked silence. "There's actually a jutsu like that?"

The third raised his eyebrows at the question. "Yes, there is. But to my knowledge only I and two others know of it, but neither of us knows enough of its design to replicate it. I can only assume that what you did is not a modified version of this jutsu?"

Naruto shook his head at that. "Na, never even heard of that one. I did mine straight from scratch. Well, sort of."

"Oh? Mind explaining?" the third asked.

"Well, sure, although I don't know all the workings of it. The Toads did most of the work, and the Kyuubi provided the life and chakra for it. I just basically helped with research and design." Naruto finished, scratching the back of his head.

"The Kyuubi you say," truly curious as to how he persuaded a demon, the most powerful one at that, to give up his life and his chakra to someone just to be sent here.

"Oh, right, yea," Naruto said. "You see, I'm the Jinchuuriki for the Kyuubi, or was. And well, the jutsu I used called on the power of the Shinigami, so it needed a life and their chakra as a sacrifice."

The third looked dumbstruck by this. "But any jutsu that calls forth the Shinigami must have a willing sacrifice. Are you saying that you convinced your demon to be willing?"

Naruto looked surprised for a moment. "There's other Jutsu that calls forth the Shinigami? Huh, and here I thought my dad was the first. Doesn't matter, he was still awesome!" Sarutobi was about to ask him who his father was when the blond boy continued. "Anyway, yea, he was pissed that it had come to it, but he relented. According to him, he wouldn't die. He said if the Jutsu worked like it was supposed to, than since he was alive back then, or now, that means he wouldn't really be dead. Besides, our chakra was linked enough at that point that if/or when I died, he would too. This was basically his last bid for freedom."

Sarutobi stared at Naruto in silence, taking in everything that was said. It was truly remarkable, and interesting. But a couple questions burned into his mind and he decided to ask them first. "So, who is your father and your mother? And how did you come to be a Jinchuuriki in the first place?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head for a second, contemplating what he could tell the old man and not have it blotch up his mission. "Um, well, you have to promise that you won't tell them, or interfere or anything."

"Of course, I won't jeopardize you being born. Who doesn't want an annoying, loud, disrespectful boy to be born?" the third said with a smile.

"Cold, old man. That was cold." The third just seemed to grin wider so Naruto answered the questions. "Well, my mom's name is Uzumaki Kushina and my dad is Namikaze Minato. As for how I became a Jinchuuriki, my dad sealed it inside me when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha."

The third blinked a couple times at this. "What! What do you mean the Kyuubi attacked Konoha? When did this, does this happen? If it is soon, we must prepare."

"Oi, old man," Naruto spoke up, waving his arms to get the thirds attention. When he finally did, he spoke. "I can't answer any of those questions unless I know when here is. And going by that map you have on your desk that you should have put away before bringing a potential enemy in here (he received a glower for that), I'd say you're in the middle of one of the Great Ninja Wars. Which one is it?"

The Sandaime took a deep breath to calm his nerves before speaking. "The Third. It started five months ago."

Naruto thought about that for a moment and nodded. "Huh, we overshot it a lot more than we thought we would. But going from that, we have plenty of time to take care of the Kyuubi. For now, you don't have to worry about him. When the time comes, I'll take care of it." When the third looked like he was about to argue, Naruto cut him off. "I'm sorry, but I was sent back with one mission and only one, and that was to stop the nine tails before he attacks. It was the other reason the Kyuubi agreed to go with the plan."

"I see. Is there anything else that happens in the future that you wish to change?" the third asked.

"Not really," Naruto answered. "At least nothing really major that you need to know. The Kyuubi attack was a major blow to Konoha, more than I thought and was taught until I became Hokage." It was true, Naruto and others were taught what happened that day, but it was not till he learned, or recognized, just how much of an impact that one event had.

The major one was to Konoha's ninja population. Not only were forty percent killed, but six elder and powerful clans were killed off as well. In addition, because the council and the third knew that only the Uchiha could possibly control the Kyuubi, they became suspicious of the whole clan, who had survived mostly intact. This lead to a tense political atmosphere where the Uchiha became isolated. They were granted less money, and their movements restricted and oversaw. This lead to the Uchiha's plans for a coup d'état, which in turn lead to Itachi destroying the whole clan under the orders of the inner council. Without the Uchiha's, Cloud and in the more distant future Iwa, became very bold.

It left a tired Hokage in the Sandaime, who allowed Orochimaru to escape because his other two students had also pretty much abandoned the village. And whether good or bad, this lead to a Sarutobi who no longer wanted to see war, so allowed Neji's father to be executed because his brother saved little Hinata from being kidnapped. The Hyuuga's would never be united the same way, which bit him in the ass when the Forth Great Ninja war broke out. Of course, the third's weakness to let Orochimaru go also led to a Sound and Sand invasion. Even though Konoha came out victorious, it still put a damper in Konoha resources and personnel.

It also lead to the death of the Yondaime, who if was Hokage, would not have allowed Orochimaru to escape. Cloud would never have tried to backstab Konoha by kidnapping Hinata, and his presence alone with his _**Hiraishin no Jutsu**_ would have prevented anyone from directly attacking Konoha and/or Hi no Kuni. Also, from what Naruto could understand from the conversation with the Fourth he had when he fought Pein as well as the Fourth's personal notes, the Yondaime took a lot of information about Madara, and his movements, to the grave. If he was alive, he might have been able to stop Akatsuki before they collected seven beasts and started the Fourth Great War.

Of course, the Kyuubi royally fucked up Naruto's life more than anyone else he could think of, but that was unimportant.

"I'm not sure that I fully understand," the Third interrupted his thoughts, "but why did you come back in the first place? Surely, Konoha is still standing if there is still a Hokage?"

At this Naruto's face turned into an angry scowl. "No," he said looking past the third and out of the window. "You're wrong. Konoha is no more. Akatsuki let lose the seven Biju they had collected and tore through Konoha and Sand first. We fought hard, we even had an alliance with the other Great Shinobi nations and were holding them back. That is until Iwa decided to backstab us. We had just sealed away the Samba when suddenly they turned on us. The Tsuchikage himself came at me and we fought as his shinobi started summoning Akatsuki members. In the end, the Raikage was killed by Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Sasuke, and the Kazekage was left alone to fight the 7 tails by himself since we couldn't help. He died, and the Mizukage and I were forced to withdraw and abandon Konoha to live and fight another day."

As Naruto inwardly tried to suppress his anger, Sarutobi was taking everything all in. Things about the story popped out more than the others, and he had so many questions that he wanted to ask. But the most important one of them all came first. "What do you mean Uchiha Madara? He should be dead or at least close to it. He definitely should not be alive by the time that you were made Hokage."

Naruto smiled grimly. "I can assure you, Ojisan, that he is very much alive. Don't know how, but he is. Of course I have a couple theories of how, but couldn't prove anything concrete."

"Hmm," the third thought. "Interesting. So what, he got the Uchiha clan to defect did he? I know that they are the only clan that could possibly hope to control a Biju."

Naruto shook his head in the negative. "Fraid it's not that simple. Madara only had one Uchiha willing to help him, and that was because he was insane to begin with. Madara created some type of sealing statue to help him extract and eventually control the Biju. As a matter of fact, the only Biju that he can directly control is the Kyuubi. He needed someone with the Rinnegan to help him build the statue to control the rest."

The third thought for a second, and his eyes widened. "If that is true, than it was Madara that released the Kyuubi in the first place," he said in shock. "But that makes no sense. If he is still alive and can control the Kyuubi, why did he wait until he did? Why not strike sooner, like during the Second war?"

"Well, your right about Madara being the one to attack Konoha," Naruto answered. "But from what I understand he is still healing from whatever jutsu the First Hokage did to him in their fight. It weakened him to the point where he couldn't use his Sharingan correctly until now." The Third suddenly looked alarmed but Naruto immediately put him at ease. "Don't worry, right now he's searching for members to join his organization called Akatsuki. The only reason that he sent the Kyuubi to attack Konoha was my tousan."

"Your father?" the Third asked raising his eyebrows, his mind seeing the smirking face of Jiraiya's talented pupil. "What does Minato have to do with Madara?"

Suddenly Naruto smiled and chuckled. "I told you my dad was awesome," he replied. "When my dad finally becomes Hokage, or if, if you don't decide otherwise, he begins to investigate Madara's organization because of a tip he gets from Hanzo the Salamander. And when he finds out, or found, whatever, he sent out the Konoha Hunter nin to track down the different people from the early Akatsuki group and when they found them, he would kill them. He usually did it himself since Madara only recruited S-class missing nins. From what I get, he must have been successful in thwarting Madara's early plans because Madara came to Konoha and released the Kyuubi to destroy my father and Konoha so it wouldn't get in the way of his plans any longer. What he didn't expect was for my dad to actually beat the Kyuubi and seal it," Naruto finished with a proud smile.

After thinking for a few minutes in silence, Sarutobi nodded. "So what do you plan to do then? And how do you plan on protecting the Jinchuuriki when Madara decides to attack Konoha. Also.." He was interrupted by Naruto's shaking of the head before he could finish.

"I already told you Ojisan, you don't have to worry about the Kyuubi. I know what I need to do and he won't get close to Konoha."

The third looked at the young man for a second and knew that he had no choice but to trust in him. "Very well. However, you must promise me that when you plan to go do whatever it is that you are, you must tell me."

Naruto nodded. "That's fair and I promise."

"Good," Sarutobi proclaimed. "Now, why don't you tell me about yourself. How old are you and some of your capabilities. Oh," he added. "Is there anyone that you may want to tell, or have me inform?"

Naruto smiled. "So you know that you can't tell the counsil, eh?" The third smiled. "You're smart, Ojisan. That's why I used to look up to you, or do look up to you. Whatever." Naruto smiled wide. "I'll probably tell Ero-Sennin but that's about it. But then again I never planned to. We'll see how it goes. And are the ANBU that work directly with you still under secrecy seals?"

"Yes, they are. Anything that they learn while on duty with me they cannot communicate to any other. You need not worry about your secret being told by them." Then he paused. "Ero-sennin?" Sarutobi asked with amusement in his voice, already guessing who the blond kid was talking about.

"Hehe, Jiraiya-sensei of course."

The third chuckled at the Naruto. "He was your sensei than?" At Naruto's enthusiastic nod he continued. "Very well. How about my other two questions? Your age and your capabilities. I need to know them before we decide what exactly we are going to do with you."

Naruto nodded sagely for a sec with a serious pout on his face. "Well, I'm eighteen, and as for my abilities. Hmm, I've beat three Kage level ninja's already, four if we count you of course," he said receiving a glare from the third. "I'm a Toad sage, although I'm gonna have to convince Ero-sennin to let me sign the toad contract again."

"Toad sage, eh?" Sarutobi nodded. "Impressive. So you obviously earned the Rokudaime Hokage position. What else can you do? Specifically."

"Well, I suck at Genjutsu, I can only perform one, and that's only when I'm in Sage mode," Naruto answered the Third's inquiry. "I'm Jonin level when it comes to my Taijutsu, never was taught right as a kid. I have an affinity for wind and water and I have created a few S-rank Jutsus and know a couple more."

"Yes," the Third nodded again taking everything in. "From what I understand the Uzumaki clan has always favored the wind and water elements." Sarutobi noticed the blond perk up at this and stared wide eyed at him. He let it go for now as he continued. "They are also very good users when it comes to Kenjutsu, although that probably comes natural due to their unique abilities."

Naruto sat in amazement for a moment. So the old man did know after all. Naruto wasn't sure if he should be angry at the Third (older third) or just disappointed that the Sandaime never trusted Naruto enough to inform him of his family legacy. Before he could decide on a feeling however, the Third's voice interrupted him.

"I'll take it you are adequate with the sword as well?" Sarutobi asked with a pointed look at the sword hanging on Naruto's waist.

Naruto blinked a couple times to gather his thoughts. "Yea," he said distractedly. "So, there's more Uzumaki here other than my mom?" Naruto asked with a hopeful gleam in his eye.

Sarutobi understood the look immediately. The blond boy seemed to grow up without knowing any members of his family. The more that the Third thought about it, the colder he felt. The Kyuubi attack, or perhaps this war, must have been more damaging than he originally thought when he first was told about it. The Uzumaki clan may have been a smaller one due to its splitting shortly after the Second Great Shinobi war, when Uzu no Kuni was ruined by the war between Mist and Cloud,(they had found themselves caught in the middle) but they were strong. For them to have died out by the time the boy was born….

"Yes," the Third answered the question. "I believe there are around eight of them left in the world, two of them here in Konoha." Sarutobi paused for a moment before asking the question that he may dread. "Were they not around when you were born?"

The blond, who had been smiling at the news that, although small, he did have a family, noticeably frowned at the question. "No, they weren't. My mom died during the Kyuubi attack, and I have no idea who the other one in Konoha is. I never found any other Uzumaki during my time."

Now it was Sarutobi who frowned at this news. "And do you happen to know which clans were killed off during the attack?"

Naruto looked sadly at the Sandaime for a moment. "It will give you an idea to the destruction that is the Nine tailed fox. But understand that I don't know all of the clans, only those who helped with the founding and held seats on the council." Sarutobi nodded his understanding. "Ok, there was six I believe. They were the Yuma, Kawasaki, Yakashima, Akashi, Namikaze, and the Tanzania clans. Yea, I think they were the ones. Shizune-neechan made sure I learned that kind of stuff because I wasn't real good with policating."

The Third looked truly depressed by this news. Surly, not all those clans were killed off. Most were pretty high in number, especially the Akashi clan, and all were reasonably powerful. He sighed. "You swear you will stop that from happening. Swear to me you know what you are doing. I cannot on good conscious allow you to leave this office unless you swear, on your life, that you will stop the Kyuubi from attacking Konoha again."

Naruto knew that the old man was dead serious. He needed to know that Naruto would keep his word. He needed extra reinsurance. "I promise, on my life that I will stop the Kyuubi from attacking Konoha. Believe it." When the Third visibly relaxed with a loud sigh of relieve, Naruto put his hands to the back of his head and gave a fox like grin. "Sheesh, Ojisan. You should know that it's the Hokage's duty to protect the Village, even with his life if need be."

The Third chuckled at that. "Yes, you are right. Now…"

"Hokage-sama," the Sandaime was cut off abruptly by the arrival of Tears. "I am sorry for interrupting, but we have a problem." He stopped and gave a pointed look at Naruto, who just grinned back.

The Hokage saw it and stood. "It is fine, Tears, you may speak. He is on our side."

"Hai, Hokage-sama," the ANBU captain bowed. "We have received word from a messenger frog. The Tsuchikage and a large group of Ninja's are heading out to take on Jiraiya-sama and reestablish control of the border. He is requesting reinforcements as there are only six squads of ninja's with him."

"Did he say how long they would take to reach him?" the Hokage asked.

Tears nodded. "Three to Four days, Hokage-sama."

"Hmm. Very well. Gather all available Jonin squad leaders and meet me in the War room. By the time they all get there, I should have figured out who I wish to accompany me when I go take on the senile fool."

Tears hesitated for a moment and Naruto stared wide eyed. "You're gonna go fight Ojisan? Aren't you scared you might blow out a hip or something?" The third looked at the young man in shock for a moment, doing his best to remember that the boy was allowed to speak to him in such a manner in the near future. Tears hand noticeably twitched toward his sword. "Hehe, oops," Naruto said sheepishly, trying to placate the ANBU who was leaking off killer intent.

However, before Tears could disembowel him for his disrespect, another messenger ANBU appeared. This one had a panther mask on.

"Hokage-sama, Hatake-san is requesting backup. Preferably those of high level. The one they fought earlier in the week was not the real Kazekage, the real Kazekage has appeared with the Jinchuuriki for the Ichibi Biju." Everyone stared in shocked at this piece of news. "Hatake-san has used his Fire Pit Jutsu and it has slowed them down, but they will need help soon."

Sarutobi smirked inwardly as he saw the plan the Sand and Rock were executing. The Tsuchikage and Kazekage were going to the front lines knowing that the Fire's resources were spread thin with Konoha's best fighters spread out. "I see, they wish for me to decide which one that I will fight. The one that I pick will most likely try to draw the fight out as long as they can, perhaps even kill me, while the other makes a beeline to either Otakin Dai, the home of the Fire Daimyo, or perhaps here to Konoha." The Hokage let out a dry chuckle. "Shame, it is a good strategy and may have worked earlier and against any other country."

With that, he walked around the table to stand before Tears, Panther, and Naruto. "I will go and reinforce Hatake and Orochimaru. Suna has much more fire power it seems. They have had their best shinobi hidden in the dark so that not even Jiraiya's spy network knew of them. Tears, while I am gone, you will be in charge. Naruto-kun," he spoke to the blond. "You will go and prove yourself by reinforcing Jiraiya. If you can, make sure to give the world this message; The Will of Fire is so strong that even a Jonin from a small clan can kill a Kage!"

Naruto did well to hide his shock as he nodded to the Hokage that he understood what he needed to do. Naruto had heard stories of the so called God of Shinobi, but to him the Third had always been that nice old man, the one that wore the funny hat and took him to get Ramen when he was feeling down. Now though, as he watched the Sandaime give orders, Naruto could see that the stories of this man's prowess were very real.

The Third waited for the nod from the Rokudaime and turned his hardened eyes to the Panther ANBU. "Go help Tears assemble the available Jonin squad leaders and my advisers. Make sure they are in the War Room in no more than an hour, fully ready for war." Both Tears and Panther chorused "Hai, Hokage-sama" before disappearing.

"You want me to kill the Tsuchikage to scare the hell out of the other countries and make them think twice of continuing the war?" the Sandaime nodded.

"I believe if a relatively nobody, no offense, from our ranks is able to fight and kill a Kage, they will think trice about continuing this war." He paused to rummage in his office draw. He pulled out a list of Jonin profiles and sat them down on the desk as he sat. "They already thought about the Sannin, came up with a battle plan to separate them. Then they thought of a way to keep both Danzo the Fire Breather and Konoha's White Fang on their toes, even going as far as to critically injure one of them. But they needed three Great Shinobi nations to pull it off. Now, if I join the fight, as well as put a new game piece onto the board, someone else that can match a Kage, they will see how fruitless this war really is."

Naruto just smiled at the man as he continued on and on about which Jonins and ANBU should go where, and how many. He had to admit the 'scare the other Ninja nations' plan was pretty smart. The fact that the Hokage thought about it in less than a minute before coming up with a way to possibly end the war quickly only spoke of the man's invaluable experience.

"Oh, before I forget," the Sandaime looked up from the files. "Do not forget to take off your jacket before we go to the War Room. There will be many questions if people see you walking around proclaiming you are the Rokudaime Hokage. From now on you will be Uzumaki Naruto, orphan from Otakin Dai. Your mother died when you were very young. As for the father, I'll leave that up to your discretion. You attended a samurai school when you were thirteen but it soon became apparent that you had exceptional talent more suited for a shinobi. After receiving a letter from the Head Samurai of the school, I personally sent an ANBU to recruit you, and you have been in the organization ever since. We can work on some of the finer details later. For now, that should get you through the battle."

Naruto blinked and tilted his head in confusion for a minute before he understood and nodded. "You came up with that cover story pretty quick, old man. I see those brain cells didn't all die off yet," Naruto said playfully and received a short glare in return.

Laughing quietly, he took a storage scroll out of his pocket and unsealed it. Inside were two bags, one with black, green, blue, orange and red jonin vests inside. The other held different short and long sleeved coats, the colors varying in colors and designs. He took off his coat and put it in its correct bag before digging through said bag for another coat. He eventually got what he wanted and resealed the bags into the storage scroll. When he finally put on his coat, he looked to see what the Hokage was doing.

The Hokage was standing, looking at Naruto as though he were insane. Naruto tilted his head. "What?"

The Sandaime chuckled to himself before asking his own question in return. "Did I see an orange vest and coat in there?"

Naruto blinked a couple times. "Of course. Why? What's wrong with orange? You never had a problem with it before."

Sarutobi just shook his head, "Sure, whatever you say. Are you ready to go?"

"Hai!"

"Very well. Oh, and by the way. Your squad leader will be a man named Akashi Sari. When I announce the Jonin who will lead their squads to the Iwa attack, look for a man with bright red hair and red earrings." Finished with giving Naruto the needed information, they both headed out the door to go to the War Room.

**Hi no Kuni**- Fire Country

**Ta no Kuni**- Rice Country

**Uzu no Kuni**- Whirlpool Country

**Ichibi**- One tailed demon

**Sanbi**- Three Tailed demon

Don't have a beta and my Major in college wasn't English, so don't be too mean please.

Peace, love, and chicken grease,

Dnome Warlock


	3. Chapter 3: MvC, KvI, KvS

Guess I'll come right out and say that I don't own Naruto, yet. Hope you enjoy.

_-"We just finished it by kicking their ass."_

**Chapter 2- Mist vs. Cloud, Konoha vs. Iwa, Konoha vs. Suna**

"What are you doing, you stupid girl!" a middle aged man screamed at the top of his lungs. Honestly, he screamed so loud that his throat hurt. And for what, to be ignored? He scoffed. "Well fine, stand out in the cold rain for all the hell I care. Don't blame me if some shinobi come round and snatch ya up. It'd be your own fault." His piece said, the man turned around to continue on his way, muttering about stupid hippy girls running around naked, in the rain no less! What had this generation come down to?

However, before he took a step away, he saw four black shadows zoom over top of the building he was under, whose wide roof helped to shield him from the rain. Indecision hit him even before he could walk away. The man just knew what was going to happen. He'd seen and lived through the Second Great Shinobi war. He also knew that something was wrong with that girl, no one in their right mind would walk into the middle of the town square, in the middle of a rainstorm, in the middle of a town that was full of bloodthirsty, sex deprived foreign shinobi who would jump at a chance like this, butt naked!

He took a deep breath. He was a good man, and he could not allow what was going to happen, happen. He could stop it. He carried a couple kunai around with him everywhere he went. He had once been a ninja, low level chunin from Mist to be exact, and he had moved to beautiful Nami no Kuni as soon as he retired. He had no wife and only one child, his wife dying at a young age during the second war. As he remembered his little girl the indecision fled away. He would protect this stupid girl as best he could, even if he would get a beaten for it.

With hardened eyes and a new found determination, the man turned around, ready to take angry steps toward the four Mist ninja that were no doubt drooling from their mouths at the sight of the bronze colored naked woman within their domain. '_Disgusting maggots,'_ he thought as he took his first step only to stop at the sight before his eyes. Instead of there being only four shinobi surrounding the dark purple haired woman, there now were twelve. Off to the other side of the street, trying to stay away from the crowd of Shinobi that were openly leering at the yellow eyed girl, were three Kunoichi.

The same determination and will power he had a moment ago to help the girl slipped away from him. He was an ex-shinobi after all, he had survival instincts that could not be turned off, and all his were saying "Don't interfere, just walk away like you haven't seen a thing." He was about to listen to that voice, but first he tried to make eye contact with the young woman to convey to her that he was sorry. And when he did finally make eye contact, just as the group of shinobi decided who would have first go with her, his eyes opened wide in shock. In less than a second the girl's iris turned from yellow to blue slits, not unlike that of a cat. She put her hands up to form a hand sign, a modified version of the tora sign, and smirked.

"**Shunpo**," the girl said in a voice that was confident, sweet, and frightening at the same time. And right before his eyes, and all the shinobi who had gathered and were now pulling out weapons, the girl seemed to vanish. There was a grunt, blood, and a severed head as two bodies fell lifelessly to the ground. As soon as the man caught sight of the girl again, she once again seemed to vanish with that one word, and suddenly three more shinobi were dead.

However, this time one of the Kunoichi who came to help their comrades was able to grab the naked girls long purple hair before she could disappear with the help of that jutsu again. A look of surprise crossed her face only for less than a second before she twisted around and caught the knee the Kunoichi nin had kicked up to hit the back of the naked girls head. As soon as she had the knee in her grasp she whispered another couple of words and suddenly released the knee. The freed mist Kunoichi screamed in pain as what seemed to be deep gorge marks appeared on her whole thigh and knee. She fell to the ground clutching it.

The naked girl did not have time for any form of celebration however as a flurry of shuriken and kunai flew at her. In an array of what should have been impossible, every single one thrown at her by the seven remaining shinobi and two Kunoichi went right through the naked girl. Then three of the mist nin put their hands in a cross shape hand sign and yelled "Kai" as all of the nins jumped back. However, it would appear for naught as the naked girl came into view again, her genjutsu dissolving, and yelled another word that he faintly heard this time, "_**Uindoken**_," as she brought each of her hands up in a slicing motion to the back of two of the shinobi necks. They were dead before they realized what happened.

As soon as the bodies fell, a water snake shot out at her and she was forced to dodge, forming her own set of hand signs, she brought her hands to her mouth and blew. Suddenly the area was covered in blackish smoke that prevented him from seeing anything. And thanks to the heavy rain, he could not hear anything either. Then, when he was starting to get impatient, a huge water dragon formed in the air and crashed down into the black smoke and its surrounding area. The older man cursed as water splashed him all along his body. Damn that water was cold!

When he looked back into the town square, thanking the heavens that the black smoke had cleared so he could see what was going on, he was met with an unpleasant sight. All around the dead bodies of the mist ninja lie. The only one still alive was the female nin that had cast the water dragon. The girl looked around as if in a daze, eyes lingering on one of the dead Kunoichi, who had her stomach cut open. Then her eyes fell on the naked girl that caused all the mess. She was lying on the ground, coughing and spitting up water. It would seem that the water dragon had done two jobs in one.

In a rage, the mist Kunoichi sped to the sputtering girl and grabbed her hair, yanking her up so that they could see each other face to face. "You bitch!" she scream and slammed a fist in the naked girl's face. She went flying onto the ground, sliding on the water soaked ground and coming to a stop only fifteen feet from the middle aged man, whose adrenaline was pumping at a wild pace. He could not remember the last time he had seen a ninja fight, let alone participate in one. And as silly as it sounded, that is exactly what he was gonna do. He still felt bad for the naked girl, who he was going to leave to her fate when he saw all those Shinobi that surrounded her.

As the mist female brought her foot up, about to stomp the poor naked girl's head into the rocky ground, he flung one of his three kunai he had hidden under his sleeve at the mist nin's head. It was perfect timing, the mist nin did not seem to even know he was there. But even if it had been a good plan, and he had timed it perfectly, it mattered not because he missed. By a whole foot! The only thing he did was stop the mist nin from stomping the pretty girl's face into the ground. As the mist nin stared at him with cold, unforgiving eyes, he could not help but try and figure out how he missed. He barely even noticed when the mist Kunoichi pulled out a kunai of her own and was stepping towards him. And that is when it hit him. The reason why he missed.

He drank five bottles of sake before running into the naked girl.

He looked back to the mist nin that promised him death, her being only five feet away from him with a raised kunai and all. He sighed. Hopefully his daughter would forgive him for dying eventually. At least he finally would get to see his wife again. Or he hoped he would. But as he looked at his would be killer, he saw her eyes widen, her mouth open as blood spat out, and the naked girl's face appeared on her shoulder. What really scared the hell out of him though was the blue chakra claw that came out the mist nin's stomach.

"Now you should know, bitch," the purple haired, blue slit eyed beauty said as the hand disappeared to leave a hole in the mist nin's stomach. "Never turn your back on an opponent." And with that she let the Mist nin drop dead to the ground. The middle aged man took a deep breath and let the tension leave his body, that is until he saw the naked girl staring at him with an intense (her eyes are yellow again, how'd that happen?) gaze. She smiled, and he gulped, doing his best not to look anywhere other than her face. He did not want to be killed by a blue cat claw thing like the mist kunoichi did.

They were interrupted when a ninja suddenly appeared. She had black, short hair, and seemed to be quite petite. She kneeled in front of the naked girl. "Yuna-sensei, Leo-san is requesting help in the west side of the village. Apparently, he has run into two of the Seven Swordsmen."

The naked girl regarded the kneeling girl a moment before replying. "Very well, get my gear so I can get dressed."

"Hai, Yuna-sensei," and with that she disappeared.

"So," she spoke to him as she stepped close enough that they almost touched. "Does my would be savior have a name?"

He gulped before briefly shooting a gaze at her breasts. He could already feel blood trickle down his nose even before he stammered out his reply. "T…Ta…Tazuna!"

The purple haired goddess smirked before leaning in and kissing his cheek before whispering in his ear seductively, "Thank you, Tazuna-kun." And with that, the older man fell unconscious to the floor, blood trickling down his nose with a huge grin on his face.

* * *

><p>The sixteen soon to be seventeen year old ducked under the punch thrown by a heavyset ninja that bore the forehead protector of Iwagakure. The swing was so slow that if the situation was not so serious, he might have laughed. But he knew that he couldn't, it would waste precious time, time that he didn't have. So, instead of laughing, he slammed a three pronged kunai into the man's throat. After pulling it out, he spun and kicked the dead man in the chest, making sure to focus precisely the right amount of chakra needed.<p>

Namikaze Minato didn't even spare the man a second look as he went flying at one of his comrades, who just happened to be moving his hands in a hand seal sequence, ready to unleash Kami knew what jutsu. Too bad he never got to finish.

Said Iwa nin, who had to stop his hand movements to dodge out the way of the giant corpse flying his way, barely saw and ducked out the way of the funny looking kunai that came soaring at him. Missing, Minato scowled. That was a miscalculation. He thought he judged the man's speed correctly when he saw his hands move and dodged the corpse, but apparently he was mistaken. Too bad, he was still too slow. The Iwa nin decided to engage him in taijutsu and attacked head on. Pretty stupid, but it didn't matter. Minato dodged the first two punches and jumped over a sweeping kick. The Iwa nin, thinking he had him where he wanted, threw his own kunai with what he thought was faster than Minato could see. Imagine his surprise when it was blocked by another one of those funny looking kunai, and that same kunai used to block it was thrown at him too fast for him to react.

The Iwa nin fell to the ground dead.

Minato spared him a glance and nodded his respect. After all, the Iwa nin did surprise him by lasting more than five seconds.

After making sure the Iwa nin would not be getting back up, he glanced around the trees. The trees in this part of Hi no Kuni were a lot sparser than farther inside the country, and there were plenty of rock for Iwa nins to use. Indeed, as he watched as a sharpened and unnatural shaped rock sail at one of his teammates, he couldn't help but feel out of his element. He would have to be careful, he knew, this was just the first wave, sent to judge and weaken Minato and his comrades. The next wave would probably be some samurai with ninja's sending jutsu at them to keep them off guard. It wouldn't be till the next wave after that one that Minato would have to truly worry though. That's when the big boys would come out to play.

He saw his teammate, Hyuuga Hiashi, use his Kaiten to repeal the rock, and he took off after the Iwa nin that had performed the drilling rock jutsu. However, before he even got there, his other teammate, Tanzania Sano, suddenly appeared from behind the Iwa nin and slit his throat. Minato knew that the Iwa nin didn't sense the danger because of Sano's clan jutsu, which allowed him to completely hide his presence, and he couldn't help but feel a little distain toward his teammate for his methods. Of course, Sano also felt the same way toward him as well, so it was a mutual feeling. Minato was just the type of guy that wanted you to know who killed you before you died. He usually gave his opponents a chance to back down if he could. He didn't like the fact that he could be killed and go to the afterlife without even knowing how or by whom.

Of course Minato had examined and analyzed this feeling for a long time. He was a ninja, he was not supposed to feel this impulse to fight your opponent face to face, but he did. He had yet, despite him even asking his father and sensei, quite figured out why he felt the way he did. It was this reason above all he never accepted the Sandiame's invitation to join ANBU.

His friend Kushina and little sister had an idea as to why. They blamed his impulse on a false sense of manliness and a need to prove himself to the less than flattered female population. Minato didn't quite understand why Kushina thought he was trying to prove himself to the female population of Konoha. Minato was reasonably sure that he just wanted to impress one female and one female only.

Uzumaki Kushina.

Before he could continue on with his inner thoughts on the girl who once infuriated him to the point where he was now infatuated with her, he felt a presence behind him and turned around to face his sensei.

"Hey runt," Jiraiya greeted him. "You alright? I saw that skinny guy almost get you."

Someone snorted from next to him. "Probably because he always rushes his opponent head on. One day your luck is gonna run out and I won't get the chance to say I told you so."

Now it was Minato's turn to snort. "Dream on, Sano. Don't be angry at me just because I can walk up to my opponents, say hi, and still kick their butts," Minato retaliated. "Some people don't need to go around playing hide and seek."

"Hide and seek, eh." Sano asked. "From what I can remember you never won at it when we were kids. You were always too stupid to know how to hide."

"Sano," Minato spoke as though talking to someone too dumb to remember their name. "I never won because I was never it. You and the others never caught me when I wasn't it, and I always caught everyone within two minutes when I was. After that second time you never let me be it again."

Before Sano could speak his reply, Hiashi spoke up in his calm and cool voice, his Byakugan active. "I believe now is not the time to argue over individual battle tactics, the second wave is preparing to attack." He paused before looking at Jiraiya, who was writing something in one of his little orange notebooks. "Jiraiya-sensei, there are only about fifty Samurai preparing for battle, and I see close to fifty ninjas. I believe they are skipping the second wave and going all out. If I am not mistaken, then I can also see the Tsuchikage, and he is preparing some kind of summon."

Jiraiya put away his book and nodded before smiling. "I ever tell ya how much I love having your eyes on my team?" he asked the stoic boy.

"Yes," Hiashi answered ignoring Minato's smirk and Sano's outright laughter. "Fifty-six times, sensei. Although I would appreciate it if you were grateful for more than just my eyes."

"Hmm," Jiraiya adopted a thinking pose. "Maybe. I do know one way where you could earn my undying thanks. All you have to…"

"No," Hiashi cut him off as he continued to use his Byakugan to scan the scarce forest surrounding them.

"But," Jiraiya said almost pleadingly.

"No."

"Com' on," Jiraiya said waving his arms comically. "I promise you'll enjoy it. Minato did."

Minato stopped his quiet snickering at that. "I'll have you know sensei," he spoke seriously, although Jiraiya could tell he wasn't. "I enjoy all kinds of research. That was no different."

"Right," Jiraiya said nodding. "See, Hiashi," he said to the boy, who was eyeing Minato critically. "It's enjoyable, and good for you."

"Jiraiya-sensei," Hiashi spoke with impatience. "I do not wish to help you spy in women's bathhouses and dressing rooms for your inappropriate books."

Jiraiya sighed dejectedly. "Fine, fine. Sano can help me next time, right Sano."

"Of course Sensei," Sano laughed. "Can't wait."

Sweet," Jiraiya smiled. "Now who wants to go warn Ryuu-san that the next wave is about to come, and that we'll probably have to fight some giant summon?"

Before anyone could answer however, there was a flash of yellow where Minato stood, leaving the other three to each other, none looking surprised.

"You know sensei," Sano spoke. "That jutsu scares the hell outta me. Can't even imagine how powerful it'll be when it's complete."

Hiashi nodded, a hand on his chin. "I agree. I feel sorry for Kushina-san's grandmother," he said. "Minato could come and go from Kushina-san's room and she would never know."

Jiraiya stopped short of saying what he wanted to and looked at Hiashi in shock. "Did you just think of something perverted?" he asked him. Said boy looked mortified, and even as he tried to explain his statement as just an observation and joke, Jiraiya already had his orange notebook out writing something down while he giggled like a little girl.

* * *

><p>Kushina kicked her downed enemy in the face, breaking his nose. His scream fell on death ears as Kushina twisted his arm and broke it.<p>

"Don't you know it's impolite to hit a girl," she yelled at the Iwa nin that had grazed her shoulder with a kunai, before putting him out of his misery by cutting his throat. Kushina didn't feel like teaching the guy manners. She did that enough with Minato and his sensei.

"Gosh, Kushina-chan," spoke her younger teammate, Kurama Yakumo. "What's got you in such a foul mood?" she asked as she flipped thru hand-signs faster than what should be possible for a chunin. The two Iwa nins flanking her suddenly stopped moving, their eyes glazed over, seeing whatever crazy illusion the Genjutsu weaver wanted them to see. Kushina ran to the one on the girls left and stabbed the Iwa nin through the heart even as the one on Yakumo's right was hit with a large fire ball. The smell of burnt flesh suddenly filled the air.

"Oh kami, Mikoto," Yakumo complained to her other teammate, Uchiha Mikoto, as she relaxed and released the Genjutsu. "I hate when you do that. A simple kunai to the head would have sufficed, you know."

Said girl just shrugged, not at all bothered by the smell assaulting her other teammates. "Sorry, I needed a warm-up on my chakra before the big wave comes."

Kushina smiled at that while looking at the older girl's right leg. Her right thigh was wrapped up in a white bandage cloth, testament to getting it cut open by a ragged looking sword wielded by an Iwa ninja in the last battle for Kasaki village.

"Glad your back," Kushina said to the girl as she scanned the area. From what she could see, her Sensei was just finishing up on the last Iwa nin that attacked them about ten minutes ago. It wasn't a large group in any way, fifteen or so, only two or three at Jonin level. Between her kenjutsu and water jutsu, Yakumo's area genjutsu, and Ryuu-sensei's speed and taijutsu skills, the poor sacrificial souls didn't even stand a chance.

"Yea," Mikoto said as she walked over to Yakumo and Kushina to watch their sensei finish off the Iwa nin. "That one medic, Shizune I think, really did a good job. I was actually pretty surprised since she's so young, and a genin at that."

"You shouldn't be," Yakumo said as she looked away from the now dead Iwa nin that their sensei just dispatched. "I was talking to her earlier, before this attack, and she said she learned a lot from Tsunade-hime."

"Really?" Kushina asked as she began cleaning her blade with a special cloth. The cloth was red and had seals on it, a present for making Jonin from Minato. The cloth leaked out some kind of chemical that both sharpened the blade as well as helping to soak up any dirt and dried blood that would not come off without a good scrub. Another seal sent the blood and dirt to Kami knew where. Kushina had tried to pay attention to Minato's explanation on time/space fuinjutsu, but she got lost as soon as he started going in depth. So like a good friend who was thankful (she was thankful), she had pretended to listen as she secretly thought about the new jutsu her teammate had showed her.

"Uh huh," Yakumo nodded. "Apparently, Tsunade-hime dates her uncle, or something like that, so they see a lot of each other."

"Hn," Mikoto grunted. "Must be nice to be taught by one of the Sannin. My first genin sensei was some useless civilian born Jonin who tried to teach us things we had already knew. Although," she continued as she sat down on a rock. "The other two creep me the hell out. One has yellow snake like eyes and can extend his tongue while the other one leers at any girl above the age of fifteen."

"Oh," Kushina nodded. "I agree. Although, Jiraiya-san isn't too bad if you know how to handle him. All you have to do is kick him in the shin every time you even think he's looking at you that way."

Yakumo looked at her skeptically. "You never told me that you kicked Jiraiya-sama in the shin before," she said.

Right when Kushina was about to explain the nineteen times that she had already done so, there was a small flash of yellow and Minato was standing right in front of her. "What about Ero-sensei?" he asked right before he realized there was a kunai on his back.

"Damn it, Minato," Mikoto exclaimed putting the kunai back into its pouch, her two tome red Uchiha eyes blazing. "Don't friggin come unexpected like that."

Minato scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Oh, sorry about that Mikoto-san," he said with his trademark smirk that didn't tell whether he was truly sorry or not. "Just came to tell you guys we're about to get assaulted by about fifty or so Iwa nins, the Tsuchikage, and one of his summons."

Yakumo and Mikoto both looked alarmed at this, but as he turned to face Kushina, his own alarm bells rang. Knowing he was in trouble, and he did know what for, he gave a large confident grin. "Hey, Kushina-chan. I'm glad you're not too hurt. Make sure it stays that way when the rest of the Iwa nin attack or your grandmother is going to kill me."

However, Kushina did not relent in her glare. "Minato," she grated out between teeth.

"Well, now that you all know," Minato started walking past her to get to the scarred man sitting against the trees. The man was watching them from a distance as they interacted with each other. Must be nice having three pretty girls on your team, Minato thought. '_I have to tell Jiraiya-sensei about that idea_.' "I'll just go tell your sensei what's going on," he continued as though he couldn't feel the killing intent coming his way.

Kushina stepped in his path. "Where is it," she asked angrily.

"Kushina-chan," Minato's face became very serious, his voice sounding as though he were truly confused about what she was talking about. "I have no idea what you speak of. Now if you would excuse me?" he asked, trying to step around her.

However, he was stopped with a hand on his chest. "One more time," Kushina said sweetly. "Where is it?"

Minato swallowed hard, bravado leaving him. "Oh come on Kushina-chan," he said. "Don't be like that." She raised one beautiful eyebrow at that (Kami, even her eyebrows are beautiful), before…

WHAM

"Ow, ow ow ow ow ow," Minato jumped up and down on his left foot, delicately holding his right shin. "Kami, Kushina-chan! Why do you always have to kick me! And why is it always the right one? Can't you alternate or something?"

"No," Kushina deadpanned as the other two girls laughed at his expense and Yakashima Ryuu walked over to join in the entertaining conversation and find out what was going on. "Now, where is it?"

Minato sighed, his face turning back into that confident smirk that she loathed (even if she thought it was cute). "Fine," he said. "It's on the back underside of your shirt," he answered pointing to her tight red, long sleeved shirt, which only exposed her shoulders.

Kushina sputtered before replying, "How the hell did you get it there! Don't tell me you went through my things, Namikaze Minato, I swear if you put that damn seal of yours on all my things…"

"Easy, Easy, Kushina-chan," Minato said waving his hands in a placating manner. "I didn't go through your things." When she visibly calmed down, Minato's smirk grew wider. "One of my clones did."

Mikoto laughed so hard at the look on Kushina's face she fell off her seat, Yakumo's jaw dropped and was wide-eyed, and Ryuu looked at him with slight awe, but also with a look that stated quite clearly that he thought Minato was insane. However, Minato wasn't insane, and he had a plan to get away. That plan involved the toad that jumped up from the ground onto Minato's shoulder.

"Yo," the toad said to the group, seemingly oblivious to what was going on. "Jiraiya says get your ass back there, Hiashi says the enemy is starting to move. He also said I was supposed to warn you guys about the twelve ningen that are coming your way. Good luck! I gotta go warn the other teams." With that, the toad popped away.

"Well, it's been fun," Minato said to the now serious group, although Kushina's look promised him severe pain if he made it out of this battle. "Don't get hurt and watch each other's back. I'll come help out as soon as I can." With that said, there was a slight flash of yellow and he was gone.

"Alright, you heard him," Ryuu started speaking right up, not wanting to waste time. "Yakumo, I want Genjutsu around this whole area. Mask our presence as best you can. As a matter of fact, lure them with a false presence. I'll pick them off one by one. Kushina and Mikoto, work together. Mikoto you have long range, Kushina, you weave in and out. Don't stay in too long. If they dispel the Genjutsu, work together and watch each other's back."

"Hai, Ryuu-sensei," they chorused before getting in position, Yakumo already weaving the Genjutsu needed to hide their presence and give the enemy more chakra signals then there actually were. Hopefully, they'll separate, making it easier for them to do what Ryuu said, and pick them off one at a time.

* * *

><p>"Hahaahahaha," the giant form of Ichibi no Shukaku laughed out loud. "I'm free! Get ready you filthy low grade maggots; it's time for you to die so I can feast on your blood." With that said, the gigantic Tanuki swung its powerful sand arm down, looking to smash all those in the way of his rampage. Orochimaru, along with the eight shinobi that were with him, tried to dodge out of the way.<p>

Only he and three others made it.

"Orochimaru-san," Uchiha Kenyon spoke, his red Uchiha eyes blazing with three tomoes. "I don't have enough chakra to use any more high level jutsu."

Orochimaru spared him a glace before looking at the other two, wanting to know what they still had in them. The surprise attack by the real Kazekage and his Jinchuuriki had hurt their numbers, and slowly but surely they were being pushed back. For almost two full days they had been holding off the Kazekage and his Jinchuuriki and he was not sure how much longer they would last.

The only thing that slowed the beast down at first was Hatake Sakumo's Fire Pit Jutsu and other high ranked jutsu from others, but he could not do that anymore because the Kazekage decided to fight the White Fang while leaving the rest to deal with the Ichibi container. After the Kazekage and his fifteen guards pulled the White Fang off to fight, the Jinchuuriki did some kind of Jutsu that put himself to sleep, and now Orochimaru and the others fighting him seemed to have to deal with the real thing.

"I still have plenty left," said Namikaze Ren, eyeing the huge monstrosity while flipping through the fifty-five hand-signs needed for one of his clan jutsu. Orochimaru always liked the Namikazes'. Their numbers were reduced dramatically during the second war, their outrageous chakra levels making them perfect for the front lines. They go in and weaken the enemy and then the rest of Konoha comes to kill whoever was left. Indeed, Orochimaru was still using his secret experiments with some of the Namikaze corpses to figure out and replicate their chakra network, but so far it was to no avail.

"_**Sky Dragon no Jutsu**_," the Namikaze heir yelled out as he finished the sequence, just in time to stop the giant sand arm that was swinging down on them. A lightening dragon fell from the sky and hit the giants arm, effectively cutting it in half.

"That hurt, you bastard," Ichibi no Shukaku yelled out as he stumbled back, its weight causing a minor earthquake.

"Listen," Shimura Yurika spoke up. "Orochimaru, can't you summon Manda? We can't continue like this. We'll never stop him."

Orochimaru scoffed. "You know that I can't. I have already summoned him in the past week and owe him one hundred sacrifices. If I summon him again it would be a waste of chakra as he won't fight."

Yurika scowled at that, and turned to Namikaze. "You have enough chakra for your summon?"

"Hai," Ren said, already going through the hand-signs needed for summoning.

"Good," Yurika stated. "Orochimaru, go and help Hatake-san. Even he can't deal with fifteen elite Jonin and a Kage at the same time. I'll use my Fire Guardian Jutsu, Ren will summon his Ape, and Kenyon can take me to safety once I pass out from chakra exhaustion."

Orochimaru didn't like the fact he was being ordered around, even if it was by the once heir of a clan and someone who outranked him. He was part of the Sannin after all, one of the most powerful ninja in the village. But he relented nonetheless. She was the wife of Shimura Danzo, mother of Danzo the Fire Breather, and powerful in her own right even in her early forties. Nodding, he sped to where he could hear explosions and feel tremors in the distance. When he looked back, he saw the Namikaze heir standing on the shoulder of a white ape, only half the size of the Ichibi Bijuu. Not that it mattered, he knew. The Ape was a very powerful and proud summon, and would take a lot to take down.

Knowing they had it under control, he ran faster to where he could sense the White Fang and Asori of the Iron Sand, the Sandaime Kazekage.

* * *

><p>"Hmm?" the giant white ape looked around his surroundings, taking in the gigantic Tanuki fighting a huge body of fire half the Biju's size. He glanced at his shoulder, expecting to find Namikaze Ichigo, but instead found himself looking at Ichigo's son. "Boy," he spoke to the Namikaze heir in a deep voice that seemed to carry out everywhere. "Why have you summoned me? You know it is forbidden to summon the Ape King unless you are head of the family. You are only allowed to summon my sons."<p>

Ren looked frightened. He knew the rules of course, but he really didn't think that the Ape king's sons could help him here. "Look," he spoke to the Ape, "I had no choice! If I would have summoned one of your sons they would have been hurt and of no help against that thing," he pointed at the Tanuki that had finally extinguished the Fire Guardian with the use of air bullets and sand.

"Are you calling my children weak, boy!" the Ape exclaimed loudly, drawing the attention of the Ichibi.

"Of course not," Ren shook his head vigorously. "I'm just saying they aren't as strong as you, is all." The Ape considered him for a moment before facing the Tanuki.

"Good save boy," he said. "I'll help you."

"_**Renkuudan**_," Shukaku yelled before inhaling a large amount of air and spitting it back out. A huge ball of wind raced toward Ren and the Ape. The Ape King just scoffed before slamming one of his fists on the ground. Out of the ground rose a thick wall that successfully stopped the air bullet. Ren had to hold on tight as the Ape king sped around the wall and raced toward Shukaku.

"Hahahaha," the Bijuu laughed. "Bring it!" he said before swinging his one good arm for a punch. The Ape King caught it in one of its fist, before sliding to the side and saying, "_**Doryuusou**_." From the ground of his other fist, a spinning spiked spear made of earth shot out toward Shukaku, who was too close to dodge. The earth spear rammed into his stomach and shot out the other side. Shukaku fell back, before rising to his feet and jumping away.

"Hey boy," the Ape King said impatiently. "You gonna help or what? The only thing you're doing is standing there."

Ren looked at the Ape in exasperation. "What am I supposed to do? It's taking all my concentration just to stand up straight and not fall."

"You see!" the Ape King yelled loudly, causing Ren to almost fall. "That is why you are not allowed to summon me! You're too young and inexperienced. I'm a defensive type of summon, boy! I defend while you attack. That's how it is supposed to work."

Ren looked lost. He didn't know that, his father had never told him. "So," he spoke apolitically, hoping to diffuse the Ape's anger. "What do we do?"

The Ape King scoffed. "For now hold on. When I get in close, use a jutsu that will hit and wake up the ningen on his head." With that, the ape jumped out the way of the giant air bullet shot at him, and raced towards Shukaku, whose stomach had already healed.

Shukaku laughed at them. "Take this," he said before swinging his good arm and yelling, "_**Mugen Sajin Daitoppa**_" and a huge cloud of sand raced to hit them.

The Ape King came to a sudden halt, almost knocking Ren off his shoulder. _**"Doryūheki," **_he said while slamming his fist into the ground again. From it, a giant wall of mud formed, protecting them from the sandstorm coming their way.

Skirting around the mud wall, the Ape King said, "Get ready boy," before he reached up and grabbed him. Ren yelped in surprise, not knowing what the Ape king had planned. And as he was swung to the side, still in the Ape's grip, he couldn't help but scream. The Ape King dodged another barrage of air bullets before he swung with his fist to punch the sand demon in the face. However, the Tanuki grabbed the Ape's wrist.

"Here you go boy!" the Ape King yelled. "Hit him hard." With that, he cocked the fist back that held Ren, who had tears in his eyes for what was about to happen, and Ren was suddenly thrown at the Tanuki's head. Cocking back his own fist, Ren swung it forward and with a satisfying crack, punched the Jinchuuriki in the face before he continued to sail over the Tanuki's head.

The container for the Ichibi eyes flew open as pain resonated throughout his face. There was a shocked "Damn it!" from the sand demon before all the sand suddenly collapsed.

Ren, who was first elated that he had successfully beat the Jinchuuriki, was now at a near panic. He was in a free fall and at the speed he was going, he didn't think he would survive once he hit the ground. Also, the Ape King had puffed away since he was probably low on chakra, so he was of no help.

However, just before his body hit the ground, water seemed to come from nowhere and stopped his fall. As he landed on his back, which still hurt even with the water slowing him down, there was a splash. He groaned and rolled over, looking around. There was a flurry of movement and he was suddenly surrounded by three ninjas, all of them wearing the symbol of leaf and none looking as though they even fought yet.

"Goddamn it, kid," a voice spoke up from next to him. "Get da hell off me so I can transform back!"

Ren jumped, startled.

"Hahaha," a man looking in his thirties laughed. "Don't worry, son," he said as he helped Ren to his feet. "You didn't hurt Jac over there, he's just messing." Ren nodded, turning to see the man called Jac start to reform his body. '_Part of the Akashi clan,_' he thought before turning to the one who helped him up.

"So, what's going on?" Ren asked, exhaustion finally settling on him as he leaned against the nearest tree feeling as though he was about to pass out.

"Nothing you have to worry about," the man said. "We're reinforcements. This place was crawling with sand nin, but your dad and his group and taking care of them now, as well as finishing off that Jinchuuriki."

"My dad's here?" Ren asked surprised. Head of clans did not usually go out to the front lines, their only duty was to defend Konoha if it ever got attacked directly.

"Ya," Jac said from behind him. "He ain't da only one neither."

Ren looked at him for a moment. "Who else is here?"

The man that helped him up chuckled. "The Hokage himself," he said. "Now let's get over there so that we can catch the show. I haven't seen the Third fight since the beginning of the Second Great Shinobi war, and he's fighting Asori of the Iron Sand, supposedly the strongest Kage Suna has ever had."

* * *

><p>Clan Mini Info:<p>

**Namikaze:** Elder clan known for very high chakra levels, as well as clan lightening jutsu.

**Akashi**: Elder clan with a bloodline limit that lets one transform their body to their elemental affinity. Orochimaru was later able to copy this bloodline and fuss it into Suigetsu.

**Yuma:** Elder clan known for clan Fire type Jutsu. Members always have fire affinity.

**Jutsu List:**

**Uindoken:** Wind Blade

**Shunpo**: Flash Step

**Sky Dragon no Jutsu**: Namikaze clan technique that brings down lightening from the sky in the form of a large dragon head.

**Renkuudan:** Drilling Air Projectile

**Doryuusou:** Rising Stone Spear

**Mugen Sajin Daitoppa: **Wind Element, Infinite Sand Storm. A huge cloud of sand blown at high speed, enough to knock the opponent off his feet.

**Doryūheki: **Mud wall

**A/N: **Many jutsu I may use come from Geor-sama's Jutsu list, some I make up my self, others I've read either on the internet or other stories.

Peace, Love, and Chicken grease,

Dnome Warlock


	4. Chapter 4: The Will of Fire

Hello again. Thanks to everyone that reviewed and agree that Naruto isn't mine, I appreciate it a lot. Anyway, here's chapter 4, I hope you guys like it.

_-"There is no such thing as a Will of Fire, Naruto! I proved it by burning Konoha to the ground!_

**Chapter 4: The Will of Fire:**

Only ten minutes after Minato left them, Kushina's group heard the yell of Samurai as they charged through the trees right into the genjutsu Yakumo weaved to mask their presence and making it seem there were more chakra signals then their actually were. There were around ten of them, and she had to wonder if they knew they were even bait, that they were sent first to find Kushina's group's location and make any traps ineffective before the Iwa ninjas themselves decided to fight.

Kushina looked back at Mikoto who was also watching the trees that the Iwa Samurai had just come from. Mikoto looked right back at her and gave her a couple nonverbal signs and Kushina nodded in understanding. They needed to get rid of these Samurai as quickly as possible. Even if a Samurai could not fight a ninja one on one and win, that did not mean that they were without their uses. Even a ninja would die if hit with one of the Samurai's chakra induced arrows if they were too caught up in a battle to notice one coming.

She suddenly saw two Samurai, who had spread out in the thinning trees, fall to the ground dead. She knew that it was her sensei that did it. She unsheathed her sword and stabbed it into the ground and nodded to Mikoto. After getting the confirmation that Mikoto was indeed ready, Kushina bit her thumb hard enough to draw blood and slid it done the middle of her blade.

"_**Fuinjutsu: Suijin**_," Kushina whispered to her sword. As soon as she finished, she could see small droplets of water start to leak out in a fast pace from the hilt and blade.

Two more Samurai fell to the ground dead, causing the rest of the Samurai to glance at where they had fallen. They were a little spread out in groups of two with just enough distance between them to see each other's movements.

"Damn it!" one of the Samurai yelled in frustration. "Where the hell are they!"

Feeling that there was enough water in the atmosphere surrounding the four samurai closest to her, she pulled her sword out the ground, rounded the tree she was hidden behind, and attacked.

The Samurai who had spoken saw her coming and lifted his blade in the air while yelling a warning to his comrades. He brought his blade down intending to cut her in half. She brought her own blade up and met it with her own. Looking into the man's face she saw him smile even as a hint of fear shone in his eyes.

Around him came another Samurai, his blade pulled back. Expecting it, she waited until he was committed to stabbing her with a sharp thrust before making her own move.

"_**Mizu no Yari**_," she said softly, but loud enough for the two Samurai to hear. In the blink of an eye two spears made of water materialized in the air and proceeded to plunge themselves into her opponents. They both fell dead.

With a battle cry, the other pair of Samurai attacked her. Clashing blades with the first, she kicked him to the side and engaged the other. She heard two thunks and saw out the corner of her eyes the Samurai fall dead on the ground with two kunai buried in his head.

Wanting to end it quickly since she was exposed to the Iwa ninja trying to draw her team out, she used her superior speed and strength to unbalance the Samurai with her blade before pulling out a kunai and coating it with wind chakra before plunging it into the Samurai's armored chest, right where his heart was.

As he fell dead, she looked for the last two but saw that Mikoto, her Sharingan active, had them handled. With two kunai in a cross handed position, Mikoto coated them with fire. In no time at all, the two Samurai she was facing fell at her feet, their faces seeming to be melted onto their Samurai helmets, the Kunai sticking from them.

Sensing chakra being manipulated, she spun back to the part of the dense woods where the Samurai had come from. Three Iwa nin were charging at her and Mikoto with spears that seemed to be made from the earth.

"Mikoto," she spoke to her teammate to get her attention before sheathing her blade and began going through a set of hand signs. She saw Mikoto look over to her and knew she understood what she wanted when Mikoto nodded at recognizing the hand seal sequence.

"_**Suiton: Mizu Kabe**_," she said while trusting her two hands out. Water once again materialized out of the air as two large walls of water shot out to the outside flanks of the three Iwa nin attacking. Doing exactly what she hoped, the two Iwa nin on the outside of the three man formation closed the gap between each other to avoid her jutsu.

Not bothering to glance at her teammate who had moved closer to her, she sped through another set of hand seals.

"_**Futon: Kamaitachi**__,"_ Mikoto yelled as soon as Kushina yelled her own jutsu out.

"_**Suiton: Mizurappa**_," Kushina yelled bringing a hand to her mouth and expelling a jet of water while Mikoto extended her arms to create a whirlwind of cutting wind.

The two attacks blended together as they shot toward the three Iwa nin. They were trapped, the only way to avoid their combination jutsu was to retreat seeing as they were too close to perform any jutsu strong enough that could save them.

The two attacks created a small but powerful typhoon and hit the Iwa nin head on, the jutsu drowning and cutting them with no chance at escaping.

Kushina's and Mikoto's small victory didn't come without a cost however. Because of the two jutsu, there was too much chakra in the area and Yakumo's area genjutsu disappeared, exposing their whole group and their real numbers. Kushina and Mikoto almost realized their mistake too late as three Rock ninja surrounded them.

Two of the rock ninja threw kunai at them as the third went through a couple of hand signs and pressed both palms to the ground. "_**Douton: Doryuu**_," the ninja yelled out his jutsu. Even as Kushina and Mikoto started sinking into the ground they prepared their own jutsu.

"_**Kaze Tate**_," Mikoto spoke going through hand seals as fast as only an Uchiha can. Before the kunai could hit them, wind picked up around the two of them and threw the kunai in other directions, some right back to the ones who threw them. As the wind died down, Kushina unsheathed her sword and spoke her own jutsu.

"_**Mizu no Muchi**_," she said and a whip made of water extended from the sword. She swung it and wrapped it around the neck of the ninja that had cast the mud jutsu before he had time to dodge. With a grunt and a hard pull she threw the man at one of his Iwa comrades. She faintly heard the man's neck crack at the pressure and force of the whip and knew she had succeeded in rendering him useless with a broken neck, or he was just killed. Either way, he would not be a problem now.

She released the whip from around the man's neck and spun it around and grabbed the leg of one of the rock ninja that had jumped to dodge the kunai that flew back at him from Mikoto's wind shield. She brought the whip down and slammed the rock ninja into the ground. However, before she turned her head to see what Mikoto was up to, she saw the rock ninja turn into stone and break apart.

'_Shit! A substitution!'_

Before she could even try to locate the now missing ninja, however, she felt Mikoto grab her arm and form a couple one handed hand seals. "_**Kaze Chouyaku**_," she said. Kushina felt herself pulled out of the mud they were half enclosed in and landing back onto ground about thirty feet from where they were.

As soon as they landed, however, she heard a whisper and the ground shook slightly. Turning, she was almost impaled with a skinny spear made out of the earth. She could not dodge the attack fully, and the earth spear cut straight through her left arm. She let out a scream of pain before she swung her blade upward using her good arm and tried to slash the ninja holding the spear. Said Iwa ninja, she noticed when he jumped backwards out of the way, was the same that had used the substitution.

Kushina pulled out the spear ready to charge the rock ninja and engage him and saw Mikoto about to do the same thing. However, as Mikoto began her charge, she was suddenly pulled down into the earth until the only thing visible was her head. Kushina was about to aid her when the rock nin she was just engaged with came at her, knowing he had the advantage with taijutsu now that her left arm was useless.

Kushina dodged the first punch that the rock nin threw at her and was able block his kunai from cutting her throat with her blade. She pushed the rock nin and her apart just as she caught a glimpse of a tall man rising out of the earth in front of Mikoto's head. Knowing that she had very little time to spare, she looked toward her opponent as he once again charged her. Waiting until the right moment, she suddenly swung her sword at the rock ninja's head. He blocked it with a kunai, but before he moved to do anything else she whispered, "_**Mizu no Hebi."**_

Her sword suddenly turned into a water snake that shot at the rock nin, who was too close to dodge. The ninja's eyes opened wide right before the snake tore through his neck and he fell to the floor dead. Looking back over to the tall rock nin, her heart jumped to her throat. Seemingly not one to taunt his opponents as long as most ninjas would another helpless ninja, he rose his fist and said loudly enough for her to hear fifteen yards away, "_**Domu!**_"

His fist became blackish and she could tell that it was as solid as stone. Kushina could not help the scream that came out her mouth even as she began to run to stop the ninja from killing her teammate and friend. She saw Mikoto close her eyes, waiting for the final blow. She knew she wouldn't make it in time.

Concentrating, she reached into herself and felt her chakra respond to her wishes immediately. Thrusting out her arm four chakra chains shot out of her skin and raced to the tall Iwa nin almost as fast as a thought. However, as fast as her chakra chains were, they were not needed.

There was a flash of red light and then the tall man's upper body fell to the ground as his lower body fell the same way. There, standing next to the now dead Iwa nin, was a man with sunny blond hair standing with his back to her, his sword glowing faintly red before it disappeared. It was a man that she felt she knew. He turned his head to look back at her and Mikoto and he smiled, whisker lookalike scars on his face, ocean blue eyes gleaming with mischievousness.

He shrugged at something Mikoto had apparently asked and scratched the back of his head. "_**Kaze Senkouken,**_" the man said.

Kushina would have wondered what they were talking about if it weren't for the fact that she was so preoccupied with her own thoughts. As it was, she could not get the man's nose out of her head, or the sunny kissed blond hair, and of course those gorgeous eyes.

He looked so much like Minato that she would have thought it was him if not for a couple of things. The fact that he had those whiskers that somehow made him look kinda feral and added to his overall attractive face, and the fact that this man was slightly taller and had a sheepish smile that didn't scream overconfidence.

Of course, the fact the man had on a red coat with nine fox faces, all with a different expression, running on the bottom of it, as well as the name that ran down the middle of his back, assured her it wasn't Minato even if it still confused the hell out of her.

"Uzumaki?" she whispered her puzzlement out loud, catching the attention of her teammate's savior.

* * *

><p>Hatake Sakumo once prided himself as the strongest ninja, aside from the Hokage, in the whole village. He still was one of the strongest, if not the strongest, in the village, but that same pride was no longer there. Or, to be more accurate, no longer what it used to be.<p>

The Sannin could give him a run for his money, but he really doubted it. Individually, they were exceptional ninjas and they made the best team Konoha had ever seen. However, what made the Sannin capable as individuals were the summons they each possessed, and the abilities learned and acquired from said summons.

Orochimaru could do things only a snake should be able to do. Extend his tongue and torso, spit out hundreds of snakes out his mouth, an inhumane tolerance for poisons, and killer intent that radiates and paralyzes weaker opponents through just his freakish eyes. On top of all that, the damn bastard seemed to never age. Seriously, the guy was thirty-two, but he still looked twenty.

Which Tsunade-hime had apparently taken offense to or something, because when she turned thirty she had created some type of jutsu that made her look in her early twenties too. He was sure that slug of hers had helped with that. The slug boss was said to be one of the oldest of all summons. Her abilities were subtle, but the slug boss was much more dangerous than she appeared.

Just like Tsunade-hime, whose unnatural chakra concentration made her great at medical jutsu, both for healing and decapitating, as well as giving her monstrous strength that could land a man in a hospital with a full body cast.

Jiraiya was the one with the most flexibility, and even Sakumo had no idea what he was truly capable of. Out of the three of them, Jiraiya would be the most difficult to defeat, especially because Sakumo had no idea how much stronger he got when he went into 'Sage Mode'. Sakumo had seen it used once, accidental really, but the battle was over so fast Sakumo still wasn't sure what happened. He was one of the few who had seen him in that state.

Also because of those toads, Jiraiya was unrivaled when it came to fuinjutsu and stealth. Being able to hide inside a toad the size of a hand made it a lot more difficult for enemies to detect him.

But without those abilities and summons, none of the Sannin could even come close to being as strong as him, he was sure. He had an almost unrivaled amount of chakra control do to his bloodline, even if white chakra made it so difficult to have children. He also had almost as much strength and concentration as Tsunade. Orochimaru may know tons of jutsu, but he could not perform many of them due to his affinity. High level jutsu of his none affinities were out of reach for Orochimaru, regardless of how much he hated it. But Sakumo didn't have that problem, due to his control over his white chakra. He had full use of four elements; Earth, Lightening, Fire, and water.

That was the reason why he was able to last this long against the Kazekage, or as he liked to be called, Asori of the Iron Sand, and fifteen of his top Sand Special Unit (SSU). No normal shinobi would be able to stand after performing his Fire Pit Jutsu three times in as many days.

Yet, after fighting for so long and performing such high level jutsu, he was only now starting to get tired. He had managed to kill eleven of the Kazekage's SSU, so only four were left, as well as slice the Kazekage across his left leg. Any lesser ninja would have given up by now or died, but he could not, too much was at stake.

He had to end this here and now, and that was pushing him onward more than anything. He had to stop the war he had started. It was a fact that whatever documents he and his team failed to intercept had somehow played a major role as to why the Sand decided to attack Hi no Kuni along with Iwa.

He had to defeat the Kazekage now that he had the chance, because he wasn't sure if he would get the chance ever again. If he stopped the Kazekage, maybe he would regain his honor, the pride that he lost for being the most celebrated ninja under the Hokage. Maybe he would get his respect back from the villagers and many of those ninjas that detested him now, all for saving one ninja's life and starting a war where so many have already died.

Perhaps his son would be able to look him in the eyes again. He missed those eyes, full of awe, respect, and love. He wanted it all back. He wanted his son back.

If he defeated the Kazekage now, all those things were possible. He could not fail.

With determination, he once again dodged the wind sword one of the SSU's swung at him, and with a flexibility that many females wished they had, dodged each of the iron needles the Kazekage shot at him. He noticed as the needles cut holes in the SSU ninja attacking him that the Kazekage didn't even flinch. He had killed a comrade just for the chance to injure him. That infuriated the White Fang even more and fueled his already dire need to end the bastard's life.

"What the hell is wrong with you," Sakumo exclaimed in his deep voice. "He was one of yours!"

The Kazekage ducked out of the way of the Sakumo's extended white blade and started laughing. "What's wrong with me? You cannot be serious. I am not some tree hugger, I am a ninja, and as such I will do everything that must be done to kill you. You are a threat to Suna's victory over Konoha, and you must be killed now no matter what. If one of my underlings can be used as a distraction to get my chance to kill you, then that is what they shall be used for!" With his part said, he went through hand seals and attacked. "_**Satetsu Kesshuu**_,"

The iron sand the Kazekage carried with him in a type of seal gourd flew out and started to form the shape of two huge boars. Not taking the chance to go anywhere near those boars, he jumped back and flipped through his own hand seals as the two boars raced toward him.

"_**Douton: Dorou Doumu**_," Sakumo yelled putting his hands on the ground. A dome of earth rose from the ground and trapped the boars inside. Already feeling the effects of the jutsu as it sucked the chakra out of the boars, he turned back to his target.

Only to remember that the Kazekage was not the only person he still had to fight.

"_**Kaze no Yari**_," he heard behind him. Turning, he saw two SSUs standing behind him and a spear of wind speeding toward him. However, this did not worry him as much as the second ninja's jutsu.

"_**Katon: Endan**_," the second ninja said and he spat a fireball that hit and joined with the wind spear making it two times bigger and deadlier.

Using pure white chakra, he pointed his white blade at the incoming spear. "_**White element: Twirling Leafs**_," he said.

The white blade extended, meeting the spear head on. As soon as it touched the flaming wind, white chakra started spinning rapidly until the wind and flame disappeared, the spinning white chakra doing its job of breaking the two elements apart and dispersing them.

After that threat was gone, he pulled back his white blade to its regular size and charged the two wide eyed SSUs. He only got a couple of feet however before he was forced to dodge out the way of a kick from the last SSU, and using his white chakra to incase his fist, punched the sand ninja in the stomach. He became wary when the ninja turned into sand.

He didn't have time to find the ninja that had conjured up the sand clone because of the massive iron scorpion that came up from the ground right behind him. He jumped to the side to get some distance away from the scorpion, but he wasn't fast enough. With surprising speed, the scorpion lashed out with his tail and stabbed Sakumo through his shoulder before he was slammed into the dome he created earlier to stop the iron boars. Before he could do any hand seals to get himself out of the situation, the scorpion used its pincers to grab each of his wrists.

Sakumo grunted as he felt both his arms pressed against the rock. He was surprised that with the amount of pressure he felt on his wrists and the amount of blood pouring out that his hands were not severed off. Trying to use some of his last remaining strength he kicked the scorpion's head, but he might as well have kicked a mountain for all the damage it did.

Sakumo heard the Kazekage laughing at him. Turning his had to face him, he saw the three remaining SSU jump to the Kazekage's side. "Look at the great White Fang, said to be one of the strongest ninja you leaf huggers have ever produced," the Kazekage said as he stopped a couple of yards away. "Looks like you won't regain your honor."

The White Fangs eyes went wide when he heard that. "What," the Kazekage asked. "You think I do not have spies inside Konoha? I know all about your status there. Everyone hates you in that village, despise you. It's your fault that this war has started, they say. If only you had been a real ninja, instead of an emotional coward, you would have completed that mission at all cost. Instead, you ran away, just to save your teammates lives only for one of them to die from her wounds anyway."

The Kazekage paused and looked at him with deep loathing and contempt. "I will not disgrace myself by killing you, you do not deserve to die by a Kage's hand," he said, turning his head to the three SSU. "Kill him," the Kazekage ordered. Not even hesitating they ran forward, all three of them with a kunai in their hands.

Sakumo took a deep breath and waited. He had failed despite how hard he had tried. At least he got to die on the battlefield, and his name would be put on the memorial in Konoha. That held some honor and respect, and at least his son had that to remember him by.

But as soon as the three ninjas were five yards away from him, they all abruptly stopped. Surprised, Sakumo and the Kazekage looked around them. To his shock, Sakumo noticed a shadow extend from the three SSU's feet all the way to a line of trees, where he saw Nara Shikaku with his deer vest and facial scars standing with a smile on his face.

"_**Kage Shibari no Jutsu**_, successful," the Nara clan head said with a smile.

Sakumo was not sure if he should of felt relieved or disappointed. If he died on the battle field, he was certain to leave one good impression on his son. Now though, that wasn't possible. He had lost, had failed, just like he did on that mission. What was he supposed to do now? He lost his will to fight, his 'Will of Fire'. He no longer deserved to be a shinobi of Konoha.

"I see," the Kazekage stated as he faced the shadow user. "You only delayed his death and assured your own," the Kage said before going into hand seals. He never got the chance to finish as a hand enclosed around his fingers.

Eyes opening wide, Asori stared into the eyes of the Sandaime Hokage, who was fully dressed in his Samurai gear and obviously ready for battle. Hard eyes stared into the Kazekage's face, and for the first time since mastering his skill over iron sand, he felt fear. He had not felt, saw, or sense the Hokage in any way. He seemed to just appear out of nowhere.

"Shikaku," the Sandaime said. "You and your team finish off those fake ANBU. The Kazekage and I need to have a chat." With that said, the Kazekage felt a punch hit him in the stomach and he flew backwards into a tree.

* * *

><p>Naruto heard the girl whisper his last name and gave her his full attention. She looked vaguely familiar to him, and he tilted his head to the side trying to remember where he had seen her. Red long hair, bright green eyes, long sexy legs, and pale skin that reminded him of...<p>

His eyes widened in shock and he could feel his face burning red from embarrassment as he quickly looked away.

He did not just think that about his mom!

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he turned back to the girls and smiled. "Yo!" he spoke his enthusiastic. He could see that his future mom was confused. He wondered if it was because he just appeared out of nowhere or if it was because she had never seen him before yet he had her last name on the back of his coat. It was probably both. His greeting did not seem to go over well with his mom if her guarded face was anything to go by.

"Hello to you too," the girl with her head sticking out of the ground said sarcastically. "Now can you get me out of here?"

Looking back at the girl in the ground, he caught a glimpse at the body he had just cut in half. His eyes widened for a moment before closing his eyes. He did not have much time. How could he be so stupid! The body he had cut in half had lost its genjutsu, and he realized that the body was just a rock clone, the blood just a subtle genjutsu.

"Kushina-san, look out!" he heard a young girls voice scream. Feeling that he had enough natural energy, he put his hands into his favorite seal and created five clones, all with the same golden colored eyes with horizontal pupils.

"You know what to do," he said as the clones. They all dispersed into the sparse trees except for one, who grumbled about his life not being fair before it began to dig the girl in the ground out.

Looking at where his mother was, he saw that she was in a deadlock with the tall Iwa ninja he had thought he had cut in half. Both of them had blades, his mom her sword and the tall Iwa ninja with a short sword of his own. He could tell that this was the real one thanks to his Senjutsu. Behind the Iwa nin a girl around fourteen years old with shoulder length brown hair and light brown eyes was already weaving through a set of hand seals.

Naruto could not tell what she said but he figured it was some type of jutsu. He watched as the Iwa nin suddenly jumped back from his mom, whose left arm was bleeding from a nasty puncture. The tall Iwa nin then proceeded to turn to the nearest tree and began to attack it with all his might.

"Kushina-san," the brown haired girl spoke to his mother. He didn't like her labored breathing or the fact he did not feel much more chakra left in the girl. If the battle did not end soon, there was a good chance she would pass out or even die from chakra exhaustion.

"Hai," his mom answered through gritted teeth as she fought through the pain in her arm. Sheathing her blade, she pulled out a kunai and threw it at the tall Iwa nin's head. Her aim was true and he fell dead.

The brown haired girl collapsed to her knees and began to breathe very deeply. "Yakumo!" his mother said running to the girl and helping her to her feet. "Come on," his mom continued gently as she began to half carry the girl back to Naruto. "We have to stay together. I don't know where sensei is or how many Iwa nin are left, and there's this weird guy who showed up out of nowhere."

'_Did she just call me weird_,' Naruto thought in disbelief.

Smiling, the girl nodded. "I took on two by myself, Kushina-san," she said to his mom. "Do you think I'll get promoted to Jonin now?"

His mom laughed softly. "I don't see why not. But now's not a good time to worry about that."

"Hey!" a screech came from below him. Looking down, he saw the dark haired girl still stuck in the ground. Blinking in confusion he looked around for the clone that he had told to get her out. Looking up toward a nearby tree, he saw his clone lying down on a branch, his hands behind his head starring into the sky. He shook his head in astonishment.

"Hellooo," the dark haired girl tried to get his attention again. "Are you going to get me the heck out of here?"

"Hehe," Naruto laughed sheepishly. "Sorry about that," he said as he bent down and put his hand on the ground. The ground around the girl suddenly turned to mud. Able to get one arm out, he grasped it and pulled her up and out.

Shaking her arms and legs she tried to get the mud off of her. She went to say thank you but her eyes widened. Before she could give him a warning, he spun around and slapped the invisible earth spear coming at him.

The spear seemed to explode on impact. Closing the space between the invisible Iwa nin and himself, he swung his left knee up and kneed the man's ribs. He felt them basically shatter from the force. The _**Meisai Gakure no Jutsu**_ dissolving as the man flew away until he hit a tree.

"I know you're there," he said out loud looking at seemingly no one off to the side. Hearing a curse, the Iwa nin dropped the concealment technique to concentrate solely on another jutsu. She never got the chance as one of his clones, carrying a teenager with dark brown eyes appeared behind her and chopped her in the back of the neck.

"Sup boss!" his clone waved as he stepped over the unconscious kunoichi he just knocked out. Coming to stand in front of him, he dropped the teenager unceremoniously on his butt. "Cya!" his clone said before disappearing.

"Uzumaki-san!" the boy yelled as he jumped to his feet. "What is the meaning of this! You can't just come and go as you please! You are supposed to be with your squad. And why the hell did you come back and get me? And how the hell do you run so fast!"

"Eh, Akufumi-san, I need you to heal these guys," Naruto said as he eyed the huge bear in the distance that was fighting with an equally sized toad.

"Uzumaki-san, you say," Naruto heard his mother say challengingly as she helped Yakumo sit down on a fallen branch.

The girl called Yakumo voiced her puzzlement. "Uzumaki?" she asked. "But you have the same hair and eyes of most of the other Namikazes."

"You don't say? That is interesting, and you're right. But I'm a fully fledged Uzumaki too," he said with one of his wide smiles.

Kushina looked skeptical for a moment before she came up with a way to find the truth out for sure. "Give me your sword," she demanded.

Naruto stopped smiling for a moment and stared at his future mom for a a second. It wasn't like he didn't trust her or anything like that, but this was his sword, his blade, and he had always been protective of it since the day he found it.

He found it in the ruins of Uzu no Kuni when the future Mizukage had taken him there after the Battle of Konoha. He had found other swords and weapons in a shop that was sunk underground, but none did what this one did. He and the Mizukage had come across it by accident, after falling from the top of a cave in. He had read some of the old parchments that were there as he looked around and found out that some of his clan had a special gift.

"No," he answered his mom smiling again. "You should already know that no one else can touch an Uzumaki blade without consequences, Kushina-chan," he said with a smile.

Kushina smiled knowingly before nodding. "Then why don't you explain why I've never seen you before, and how you already know my name?"

Naruto was about to answer when they all looked to the direction they felt large chakra spikes come from. The black bear was still fighting Gamabunta.

"Well, look at that," he said. "Looks like I don't have time to stay and chat, I have a mission to complete. If you have any questions, ask the clone over there," he said pointing to the clone lying down on a tree branch while looking up at the sky, unperturbed with anything going on around him.

Naruto sighed. "Sorry about that, it seems he's channeling his inner Nara, so he might not be so forth coming," he said to the girls, who were eyeing the clone, and he could tell that they forgot he had even made that clone. "I guess I'll see you guys later. Make sure you heal them up good, Akufumi-san," he finished before racing toward the direction the summoned black bear was.

The three girls looked around at each other and to the teenager who was yelling for Uzumaki to come back, shocked at the abrupt departure. Mikoto decided to break the silence. "You know, he's kinda cute, isn't he Kushina."

Kushina shook her head to clear the confusion and cobwebs that clouded her mind. "No," she answered. "He's not that cute."

Yakumo giggled. "If you say so," she said while allowing a fuming Akufumi to check on her. "But we all already know you have eyes for only one blond, no matter who comes along and looks so like him."

Kushina stuck her tongue out at Yakumo. "I don't know what you're talking about. I do not like Minato like that."

"Like I said," Yakumo retorted back. "If you say so."

Kushina's come back was cut off by Mikoto's voice. "Hey!" Mikoto yelled at the Uzumaki still on the tree. "Get down here. I still haven't even introduced myself to you yet." The Uzumaki clone's only response was to mumble something that they could not hear. Mikoto, not used to being ignored, picked up a small rock and threw it at the clones head.

"Ouch!" the clone yelled rubbing his noggin. "What the hell is wrong with you woman. You don't just throw rocks at people."

Mikoto stood still for a moment in surprise. She looked back at the other two girls and noticed that they were equally confused. The shadow clone was unlike any Mikoto had ever seen. Its personality was completely different from the Uzumaki that just left, and seemed to be able to carry its own form of cognitive thinking. Not to mention it did not dispel.

Getting over her shock, she glowered up at the clone, matching glare for glare. "You were ignoring me, so I thought I'd encourage you to stop. Now get the heck down here and answer our questions like your...original said you were supposed to do."

The clone grunted before pointing at Kushina. "Shouldn't you heal her first? She might pass out from blood loss if you don't, and I know that the boss wouldn't like that," he retorted. "Just wake me up when you're done," he said as he lay back down on the branch.

Mikoto's eyebrow twitched before picking up another rock and throwing it with the same accuracy.

"What the hell!" the clone yelled swinging his arms outrageously. "Now what's your excuse for doing that, you nut!"

"WHAT!" Mikoto screamed before disappearing in a burst of speed. She appeared next to the clone, which only had a slight second to watch apprehensively before Mikoto's fist hit the same spot her two rocks had and he face planted against the tree branch. "You don't speak to a woman like that! Especially me! Who do you think you are?"

The clone rolled onto his back and looked at the seething woman who seemed to enjoy hitting him.

"Tck, troublesome."

* * *

><p>"So it seems that you are nearing your limit, aren't you?" a short old man spoke to a tall young ninja, whose calm face and demeanor belied how much he was incensed inside. The short old man, who called himself Onoki, had somehow been able to see Minato's new jutsu weakness. Minato didn't know how the old man knew how to avoid the <em><strong>Hiraishin no Jutsu<strong>_, but it was incredibly annoying.

The old man, whose huge nose looked like it had a tumor on it, smirked at him from across the clearing. "I bet you're wondering how I know how to avoid your move?" he asked and Minato was instantly paying close attention to the words. "Your jutsu is mighty impressive, but from what my spies tell me and from what the survivors have told me from when you and your Leaf friends retook Kasaki village, you only used a total of five of those special kunai of yours. In addition, every time you threw them you made sure to be at the most twenty yards away before you teleported. Also, anytime that you teleported, your swings were slightly off target and you appeared a little disoriented. And lastly, after you used your teleport trick eight times, you stopped using it and settled for fighting in Taijutsu and C-rank jutsu."

The short man paused and was happy to note the surprise that flickered across the eyes of the seemingly emotionless young ninja in front of him before continuing. "This leads me to believe that your jutsu, whatever you call it, is not complete. And as you have used it eleven times now, as well as the fact that the last time you used it against my Tsu clone you missed your strike by a foot, means you have reached that jutsu's limit."

The short old man was somehow able to scowl and smile at the same time. "I commend you though," the old man continued. "You have gained the great Ryotenbin no Onoki's attention, but I'm afraid that I cannot let you live and complete that jutsu. As such, make your laments now and pray to your gods, for it is time to meet your end." With that said, he got into a fighting stance and floated himself a couple of feet into the air.

Minato, doing a very good job at hiding his surprise at the fact that this Iwa ninja was so well informed and knew so much about his _**Hiraishin no Jutsu**_, also got into a stance. The old man was right of course. The first time he had used the Hiraishin in battle was during the retaking of Kasaki, and as such was unprepared for the backlash of using such a high chakra depleting jutsu at the same time as fighting with Taijutsu and using other Ninjutsu. He had miscalculated. He had become tired and disoriented after using the Hiraishin after eight times and didn't want to take chances with his mental health, so stopped using it in that battle.

However, in the three weeks they held Kasaki, he had been working hard on correcting that weakness. He was now able to use Hiraishin at around sixteen times a day and was also able to move longer distances depending on how much chakra he spent. But because he was too cocky and thought that his weaknesses were only known to him, he had went and used the Hiraishin to get to Kushina's group, about a mile from where he was at the time, thus cutting down on the amount of times he was able to use it now, against a very informed and strong Iwa shinobi.

Keeping track of all his three pronged kunai was also a noticeable challenge he has been trying to overcome. Because of the seal mechanics, he was able to feel each of his kunai whenever they were thrown and could see the kunai's surrounding area while he was moving from one kunai to another.

This gave him the ability to know where his enemy was located so he could go in for a quick kill. However, he had found that keeping track of so many different environments and surroundings gave major headaches and required enormous amount of concentration. Five was his limit during the retaking of Kasaki, seven was his limit now.

"I don't think I need to pray to anything," Minato said to the old man, his face remaining emotionless, just like his father had taught him before he died. "I won't be the one dying."

The old man scowled. "Very well," he said getting ready to use one of his strongest jutsu. Before he went through the seal sequence for it, he saw the blond man's eyes widen a fraction in surprise and felt wind at his back. Using a quick replacement, he switched positions with an overturned piece of earth.

Looking back, his face contorted with anger. Another blond haired man, this one with what appeared to be birthmarks on his cheeks, swung his fist down and punched right through the pile of earth. The old man noticed as the new comer swung, he had gathered what looked like wind around his fist. In no time at all the new guy landed on his feet and stared right into the eyes of Onoki, and the old man couldn't help the feeling of slight fear that rippled down his spine.

The little old man couldn't remember the last time he felt such killing intent directed at him. Looking back and forth from the blond he knew as Minato and the new blond he didn't know anything about, he was sure they were related. But physical appearance seemed to be all they shared.

Whereas Minato's eyes held calmness and control, his face showing nothing, the other blonds' eyes and face showed more emotion that should have been natural, especially for a ninja. And right now they showed so much hate, loathing, revulsion, and dare he say it, pain directed at him, he couldn't help but think he had wronged the new man somehow.

Deciding to get introductions out the way and perhaps figure out how the young man knew him, he started talking to him. "And who are you? By the way you are looking at me, I can only assume you know who I am," the little old man said to the blond standing twenty yards away from him.

The blond stared at him with barely suppressed rage. "Oh," the blond said in a voice that promised Ryotenbin no Onoki his death. "You don't know who I am, but I know you, Onoki. The only thing you need to know about me is that I'm Uzumaki Naruto;

"AND I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!"

**A/N:**

Peace, Love, and Chicken grease,

DrHokage

Jutsu List:

**Futon: Kamaitachi:** Cut Caused By Whirlwind

**Suiton: Mizurappa: **Violent Water Wave

**Kaze Tate:** Wind Shield

**Mizu no Muchi:** Water Whip (Whip of Water)

**Mizu no Hebi:** Water Snake (Snake of Water)

**Domu:** Earth spear literal translation, but Kakuzu used it as a way to harden his skin

**Kaze Senkouken:** Wind Flash Sword

**Satetsu Kesshuu: **Iron Sand Joint Attacks, Using Iron sand, the Sandaime Kazekage can turn his iron sand into different shapes

**Douton: Dorou Doumu:** Earth Dome Prison, also sucks chakra out of the people (or boars) trapped inside

**Kaze no Yari:** Wind Spear

**Katon: Endan**: Fireball

**White element: Twirling Leafs:** A move that twirls white chakra around Hatake Sakumo's blade at high speeds

**Kage Shibari no Jutsu:** Shadow Bind Technique

**Meisai Gakure no Jutsu** :Camouflage Concealment Technique

**Hiraishin no Jutsu:** Flying Thunder God Technique


	5. Chapter 5: Battle

- _I did what I had to do boy! You have no right to judge me! I know Madara, I know how this will end! I will not allow Iwagakure to crumble the same way as Konoha will burn_!

**Chapter 5: Battle **

Naruto did not give Onoki any time to say anything after his proclamation, and with a burst of speed that Onoki thought almost matched the other blonde he had been fighting, attacked him head on with a snarl on his face.

Cocking his fist back, once again encircling it with wind, he punched Onoki directly against the chest. The punch was so powerful that it went right through to the heart. However, almost as soon as it happened, Onoki turned into mud, showing that it had only been a mud clone.

Minato watched this all happen in shock. This Naruto had just showed up out of the blue, with no warning signs of any kind. One second it was just him and the short old man, Onoki, and then Naruto suddenly appeared right behind Onoki, already moving in for an attack. Minato had learned a long time ago how to locate chakra signals, and Jiraiya had literally trained it in him and his team until it became second nature to use that ability during fights. But he hadn't sensed Naruto come. He seemed to just appear out of thin air.

That wasn't all either. Minato had never seen Naruto in all his life, yet he looked as though he could be his brother. He had the exact blue eyes as Minato and his father, as well as the same sun kissed blond hair, even the same nose. '_Who the hell is this guy?_'

"That is incredible speed you have there, boy," Onoki spoke as he ascended out the ground from the middle of the clearing. Minato got into his Taijutsu stance, ready for anything. He had been fighting Onoki for the past twenty minutes, and the old bastard's clones were annoying to say the least. It was how the old fart had been able to get around his Hiraishin as he tired Minato out. "But it will take more than just that to defeat me," Onoki continued to taunt.

"I know," said a soft voice behind the just emerged Onoki. Both Minato's and Onoki's eyes went wide in surprise. Another Naruto was standing behind the old man, his right hand on the hilt of his sword and his knees bent.

"_**Kaze Battōjutsu**_," spoke and too fast for Minato to see, Naruto drew the sword. There were flashes of red light that forced Minato to look away for a moment before looking back. When he did, he saw Naruto sheathing his sword staring at Onoki, who seemed to have a dozen slashes all over his back. However, Onoki was not done showing off his own skill and arsenal of clones, and this Onoki fell apart into a cloud of dust.

Minato began to once again expand his chakra awareness to locate the old geezer as Naruto turned to look right at him.

"Your names Minato, right?" the young man asked him. Minato nodded, his face still set in his emotionless mask even as he tried to locate Onoki. Naruto smiled at him, and Minato couldn't help but be taken aback by Naruto's change in demeanor. He was calm now, even with that big smile on his face, where as his clone had just let off so much killing intent and anger that Minato thought Onoki might have pissed his pants. Now though, the clone was standing still, its eyes closed and his face relaxed.

Naruto smiled at his future father and set one of his plans in motion. If everything Kakashi had told him was right, then this should work. "It's nice to finally meet you, nii-san, and I wish that we had more time to catch up, but we don't."

Minato stood with a look of dismay, his concentration wavering as he stared at Naruto with wide eyes. "Nii-san?" Minato asked. "What are you talking about? I don't have any brothers."

Naruto pouted. "Aw, Minato nii-san," he said with a feigned hurt look. "I know we are only half brothers, but that's no reason to already write me off without giving me a chance."

Minato continued to give him a bewildered look before he was forced to dodge out the way of a giant claw made of earth that emerged from underneath him. Landing on his feet, he was about to search for Onoki again but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Swinging one of his regular three pronged kunai, the ones without his Hiraishin seal, he tried to cut whoever was behind him. Before he could make contact, his wrist was grabbed, and he stared into the eyes of Naruto.

"Listen," Naruto said, his face no longer showing his smile. "I can handle this guy alone, so you don't have to worry about him."

Minato raised his eyebrows challengingly. "Oh?" he asked.

Naruto smiled again. "Yea," he answered. "I've fought ninjas way stronger than him."

"So I'm supposed to what, take a nap," Minato asked another question, irritated that he was being dismissed so easily by his supposed step-brother.

Naruto snorted. "Course not, you lazy ass," he said, his smile widening at the thought of not only calling his dad lazy, but also the Yondaime Hokage as well. "But the Black Bear that Ero-sannin is fighting is no normal summon, and the sealing circle that it was summoned from has to be behind enemy lines. I figured you would like something more difficult and fun to do, so why don't you go kill the ninjas that are feeding the seal their chakra."

Minato gave one of his customary smirks and nodded. He understood. Gamabunta, no matter how strong he was even with his giant blade, would not be able to handle the giant Black Bear, whose thick skin and mass prevented most jutsu the toad could use useless. Therefore, he was supposed to take it out of the battle field. With the Black Bear gone, Iwa had no chance of not only stopping Jiraiya and the rest of his summons, but also wouldn't draw other Konoha ninjas that would feel compelled to fight it.

"Alright," Minato said. "Don't die. If you really are my half brother, I need to know how that came about, and we need to catch up."

Naruto slapped Minato on the shoulder. "You got it," he said. Then he smiled once again, "Although, I thought you already knew how kids were made, but if you need me to give you the talk on the birds and the bees, it'll have to wait till later."

When Minato was about to protest his lack of knowledge, Naruto interrupted him. "Now get outta here, I think the crazy old man has just finished one of his golem jutsus."

Nodding a goodbye, Minato formed a hand seal and shunshined away. Naruto also made a hand seal and created a clone just as an earth golem emerged from the trees and raced to them. The golem reached him and the clone and swung one of its massive fists downward, intent on squashing the real Naruto. Both jumped away from each other and formed hand signs.

"_**Ichijin no Jutsu**_," the clone yelled and a powerful gust of wind blew the golem off its feet and had it flying towards Naruto, who made sure Minato wasn't around before he opened his palm and a sphere of pure chakra gathered.

"_**Oodama**_ _**Rasengan**_!" Naruto yelled before hitting the golem right in its chest. The golem didn't stand a chance and the giant Rasengan turned it into rubble. Naruto heard a brief shriek of surprise before getting his clone's memories. Onoki had appeared behind it and put his hand on the back of the clone's head. The clone suddenly became stone before Onoki gave it a strong kick that scattered it in debris.

"Impressive jutsu," Onoki told Naruto while going through a set of hand signs. "_**Jinton: Genkaihakuri no Jutsu**_," he yelled and a massive cube made out of dust formed and flew towards Naruto intent on crushing him.

Onoki watched as his dust cube sailed toward his enemy for a second before jumping high into the air. Sure enough, Naruto surfaced exactly where Onoki was just standing with what appeared to be a wind blade. Naruto landed on his feet after soaring out the ground, not at all surprised that he didn't come close to hitting the old man. Onoki decided to continue to float about fifteen yards above as he looked down at his opponent.

Scowling, Onoki went through another set of hand seals before calling out another jutsu. "_**Jinton: Hardened Spikes**_," Naruto heard before he saw dozens of long spikes made out of dust form around Onoki before they descended upon him ten times faster than the dust cube had moved. Using his own impressive speed, Naruto raced around the clearing, weaving in and out the way of the spikes as they tried to pierce him.

Eventually getting tired of dodging the stupid spikes, he pulled out his sword. "Oshima," he whispered.

"_Hai_!" he heard the spirit whisper to him, already knowing what he wanted. Stopping right below the floating old man, he raised his hand and felt Oshima's power over the wind already working. Wind picked up around him, powerful enough that any of the spikes that came near him stopped and were flown in other directions.

Onoki stopped forming the spikes and frowned down at his enemy, wondering how the boy was able to suddenly misdirect his attack. Then he saw the sword in Naruto's hand gleaming a light red and it clicked.

"So, you are from the Uzumaki clan?" he asked a little intrigued. He could have sworn Minato and Naruto had been related, had even heard Naruto state that fact when he was eavesdropping on their little conversation.

The wind died down and Naruto glared up at Onoki. "Yea," he answered impatiently, already gathering the chakra needed for his next jutsu. "What of it?"

Onoki scoffed at Naruto's question. "Nothing important, except that I know that you can only go so long using your swords spirit's power before it runs out of chakra and you can no longer use it," he stated. Naruto just continued to glare at him. "When that happens, it is only a matter of time before I kill you with one of my jutsus. You cannot run forever, while I can float up here as long as I wish and you would never be able to hit me."

Naruto's response was to smile. "Is that so, Tsuchikage-sama," he said giving Onoki a feral grin.

Onoki's face contorted in confusion for a second before asking, "Tsuchikage? I am afraid you are greatly misinformed. As much as I should be the Tsuchikage, it was voted that I am too aged to have the position and they gave that title to a pretender," he finished looking disgusted at the memory.

"You're not the Tsuchikage," Naruto asked surprised. Thinking, he knew that he shouldn't be too astonished. He was twenty-three years in the past, and Onoki could have gained the position of Tsuchikage in any of that time.

"That's right, boy," Onoki scowled at him. "If it's the Tsuchikage you were after, he is fighting the Toad Sannin as of now. But I am still a ninja of Iwagakure, and as such will protect the leader of my village. To get to him, you must first get through me!"

Naruto continued to look up at the future Tsuchikage as the old man went through another set of seals. Naruto did as well, going through modified versions of the snake and ram hand sign. Onoki saw him do it as he prepared himself, but his huge eyebrows went up in amazement when he saw Naruto suddenly vanish. His only warning of attack was a breeze he felt on the back of his neck before he tried to move out the way.

He wasn't quite fast enough and Naruto was able to slice a shallow cut across Onoki's back before kicking him to the ground. Onoki hit the earth hard and actually bounced a couple times before coming to a halt. Years of fighting and training allowed him to ignore the pain in his body and he jumped back onto his feet. He glared fiercely at his opponent as he watched Naruto land on the ground.

Naruto glared back with equal contempt written on his face. He did not like revealing that technique to the future Tsuchikage, and was hoping for a better result the second time he used it against him. With Oshima and Kakashi's help, he had learned how to use the _**Kawarimi**_ to replace himself with the wind and air. Apparently, he still could not perform it fast enough.

"Oshima, you have enough for one more attack?" he whispered to the spirit.

"_Hai_," it answered back. "_But I will be out of chakra after that."_

"No matter," Naruto said as he prepared himself for what he wanted and noted that Onoki noticed his sword once again glow red. "I've killed him once without using you; I can do it again if this doesn't do it." Ready, he jumped into the air and swung his sword in an arc.

"_**Kaze Shu Okami**_," he said loudly and out of the blade raced a dozen wolves, all of them crimson red and made out of cutting wind that exploded on impacting their target.

The Sandaime watched as Akimichi Chōza plowed into the scorpion holding the White Fang and successfully dislodged Sakumo from the rock. Yamanaka Inoichi was instantly by Sakumo's side, already healing the cuts as best he could to prevent Sakumo from dying of blood loss. Orochimaru appeared from behind Shikaku and raced to the three stuck SSUs, and Sarutobi Hiruzen turned back to the Kazekage, not wanting to see how savagely his once upon a time student dealt with the Suna ninjas.

The Kazekage was just getting back onto his feet, all the while glaring daggers at Sarutobi. The Hokage was not disturbed however and began walking up to the Kazekage.

"Hello Asori," Sarutobi greeted the Kazekage in a grave tone. "I haven't seen you since your father brought you to Konoha when signing the peace treaty that ended the Second War."

Asori scoffed and spit on the ground. "Shut up old man," he snapped at the Hokage. "Do not speak to me as though I am that same child that you saw back then! I am a Kage, and you will speak to me as such!"

Sarutobi looked at the Kazekage with the same type of eyes that a father would use when he was about to berate his kid for saying something overwhelmingly stupid. "You are not a child you say," he asked coming to a stop fifteen feet away from the Kazekage, who had finally caught his breathe. "But you act like one. You have started a war with Konoha and Hi no Kuni for what? Jealousy, envy, and greed? We may not have been allies but all you had to do was come to me, and we would have worked out a peaceful resolution that would have benefited both our nations. Instead, you seek to cause chaos and death!"

"Do not speak of your tree hugging ways to me you old fool," the Kazekage yelled back. "I am a Suna ninja, not some pathetic weak leaf shinobi!"

Sarutobi frowned at the Kazekage. "I don't understand why you and the other nations criticize Konoha and how we do things," the Hokage said in puzzlement.

"You know why!" the Kazekage continued to speak so he could delay the fight for as long as possible to enable him to gather enough chakra. "You speak of your Will of Fire as though it means something! As though your will is strong enough to never lose."

"Ah," the Hokage said as though he just finally understood something. "Now I understand your disapproval," he told the Kazekage. "You and the others have your facts wrong and do not understand what those words truly mean."

He paused and waited for the Kazekage to look him in the eyes. "The will of fire is all about a ninja's strength and how they incorporate it and work together in a team, how they protect each other and watch out for one another," he continued. "Fighting together, helping each other, joined in mutual trust. That is what it means to be a team, a ninja of the leaf. Protect our village, its future generations, and each other; that is the Will of Fire."

He once again gave a brief pause as he inspected the Kazekage before going on. "You also seem to forget, that even in the first and second war, that same Will of Fire has allowed Konoha never to be invaded by another military power, unlike Sunagakure."

"Shut up with your team work nonsense," the Kazekage interrupted the Hokage. "It is not the teams that make the village strong. It is the individual strength of its ninjas and leader."

Sarutobi sighed. "You don't even realize that you are contradicting yourself," the Hokage said as he thought about how it took the Kazekage and fifteen SSU to defeat the White Fang. "It seems that I must give you a lesson that our Academy students learn very early. Maybe than you will begin to understand," the Hokage said, getting into his fighting stance.

The Kazekage had not fully recovered quite yet, but at least he had enough chakra to form an iron spear and also prepared himself for the fight.

"Lesson one, Taijutsu," Sarutobi said before closing the small gap between him and the Kazekage. Asori blocked the first punch with his spear, then spun it around trying to sweep the Hokage's feet from underneath him. However, the Hokage just stomped on the spear and prevented it from moving any farther, and then kneed the Kazekage in the stomach. Asori bent over at the strength of the kick, and didn't have time to dodge out the way of the right hook that had him flying across the clearing.

The Kazekage dropped his spear as he landed and skirted across the ground before he came to a halt. He hoisted himself back to his feet and got into his taijutsu stance, ready to fight hand to hand. Sarutobi did not disappoint him and attacked with the same speed and aggressiveness as last time. The Kazekage blocked a punch to the face and tried a spin kick to Sarutobi's face. The Hokage ducked underneath before trying an uppercut.

Asori flipped backwards out the way and was deeply disturbed that when he landed on his feet, the Hokage was standing there in his face. "Never take your eyes off your opponent, or something like this may happen," Sarutobi said before elbowing Asori in the chin. The Kazekage's head snapped upward and he was looking with dazed eyes into the sky before he felt a sharp pain and heard a loud snap as the Hokage side kicked his right arm.

The Kazekage went flying once again till he landed on the ground rolling. He was a bit slower to get up this time, and he couldn't prevent a little moaning as he did it. He knew his arm was broke, and was very glad that although his chin felt like it might have broken as well, it wasn't and he could still move it. Looking back at the Hokage, he prepared himself for the next assault as best he could.

However, the Hokage decided to speak once again. "Every ninja team of the leaf has at least one person whose strength lies in their taijutsu. It helps keep balance and ensures stability for the team," Sarutobi said. "Now, I will say this again, give up, no matter how hard you fight, you will not defeat me. There is no need for you to die yet. We can still work out some kind of peace …"

"I said shut up," the Kazekage screamed. "I am a Suna ninja and Kage; we are not peace loving morons. We fight until our last breathe and take as many of the enemy out as we can before we die."

The Hokage looked on sadly before nodding. "Very well," he said. "Lesson two, Genjutsu." The Hokage suddenly ripped off his chest armor and shirt, exposing his chest. His head fell back into a scream before his chest split open and a head appeared, followed by a body, then legs. When the body finally emerged all the way, it stood tall and raised its head and stared into the eyes of the Kazekage as Sarutobi's body fell to the ground, apparently dead.

Even though the Kazekage knew that it was only a Genjutsu, he could not help but step back in disbelief. Standing there was a tall woman dressed in a black Kimono, her dirty blond hair waving in the nonexistent wind, her beautiful teal eyes looking at him lovingly and yet sadly at the same time.

"Mother," the Kazekage said before shaking his head and formed a one hand ram seal. "Kai!" he yelled. He looked ready to panic when nothing happened, and his mother's visage continued to walk towards him.

"Why, my son?" the woman asked, sounding exactly like his mother had once before. "Why do you disturb the peace your father fought so hard for?" she said with disappointment.

"Shut up," he yelled as he tried once again to get out of the illusion and was met with the same results. "You are not real!"

His mother appeared not to have heard him however, and she continued forward until she was close enough to touch. She reached out another hand and caressed his cheek comfortingly even as he tried to hit her away. His fist just went right through her.

"Why, my son," his mother continued on relentlessly even as the Kazekage began to really panic and started to become teary eye.

"You do not understand, m…mother," the Kazekage. "I tried..."

His mother once again seemed to not hear him though, and she once again asked a question. "Why would you start a war your father helped stop, my son," she asked. When he just stammered, her face went from loving to angry and she yelled, "ANSWER ME!" before suddenly vanishing.

The Kazekage stood there in a daze before he heard a voice behind him speak, as well as notice a hand on his broken arm. "Leaf teams always have a person on them that is either good at Genjutsu, or good at recognizing them and dispelling them," the Hokage spoke. "Any ninja that has showed exceptional aptitude for the skill are taught how to manipulate and direct the flow of chakra to the senses with a touch, thus making it almost impossible to break away from without the help of someone else. The Yamanaka clan members are usually very good at this," he finished before kneeing the Kazekage in the back, directly on the spine.

The Kazekage's body bent backward unnaturally until the Hokage once again side kicked him, this time directly on the side of the Kazekage's head, and he went flying into a boulder. When he hit, he lost what little breath he had and opened his mouth to yell out his pain. However, the only thing that flew out was blood.

The Hokage waited until the Kazekage's ragged breath calmed down enough for him to pay attention and speak his answer to the Hokage's final plea for peace. "This is your last chance to make amends, and seek an alliance with the leaf," the Hokage spoke in a hard tone.

The Kazekage raised his head from his undignified sitting position. "Alliance?" the Kazekage wheezed out. "You do not want an alliance with us. An alliance is only good for a smokescreen to get the enemy to relax their guard. The minute we get the chance, we will betray you."

"We should always avoid solving things with force, and work out our differences through negotiations, Asori," the Hokage said sadly. "Your father understood this. Even though the negotiations would have resulted in your death for all the leaf ninjas you have killed by your own hand or through your orders, I hoped that you would have sought to protect your village. Seeing as that is not the case, the lesson ends here.

"Lesson three, Ninjutsu," the Hokage continued. "_**Douton:**_ _**Doryuu Taiga**_ ," the Hokage yelled going through the hand seal sequence. A river of mud flowed from beside him. The Hokage was not done however, and did another couple hand seals. "_**Douton: Doryuudan**_," the Hokage yelled and a dragon head appeared out of the mud. It opened its mouth and shot out dozens of mud projectiles at the defenseless Kazekage.

Right when the first projectiles exited the dragon's mouth, the Hokage made yet another series of hand seals and called out, "_**Katon: Karyuudan**_." Out of the Hokage's mouth flew a large flame that ignited all of the projectiles making the attack even more deadly.

The Hokage was about to turn away when a voice he had not heard in a long time stopped him.

"_**Kikō Junbū no Jutsu**_," said a loud voice. The Hokage watched as a chakra shield appeared between the fire and mud projectiles and successfully stopped it. When the small amount of smoke cleared, a little lady with hair that reached her shoulders stood, arm raised. The shield was finally dropped and the woman bent down to pick up the Kazekage. However, before she did, she unfurled a scroll and an ugly looking puppet popped out.

"Hello, Chiyo-chan," the Hokage said calmly. "I am surprised to see you here, I thought you had retired."

Chiyo picked up the Kazekage, who seemed to have passed out, and glared at Sarutobi. "I've come out of retirement, and won't quit as a ninja until I see the White Fang die!"

Sarutobi went through a set of hand seals and summoned up the Monkey King Enma, who didn't waste time before transforming into an adamantine staff. Chiyo eyed the staff with loathing as the Hokage glanced over at where Shikaku, Inoichi, Choza, and Orochimaru were guarding a depressed looking Hatake Sakumo from what looked like Chiyo's brother and five puppets.

"And what's with your new found hatred of Konoha's White Fang?" Sarutobi asked getting into a battle stance.

Chiyo scowled at the Hokage before answering. "He was the one that killed both my son and my husband," she said hatefully. "I will insure his death by the end of this war!"

Sarutobi eyed the woman with confusion written on his face as he thought about when that could have happened, but then he understood, at least partially. "Your husband was the one macerating as the Kazekage," he voiced his conclusion. "I was told that he received wounds that would kill him before he made it to Suna. However, I will not give you my condolences or allow you to harm Sakumo in any way. He was doing his job as a shinobi of the Leaf. It was you and your village that forced your husband to die by the White Fangs hand."

Chiyo's come back was cut short as her brother suddenly appeared by her side. "We don't have time to fight," he said. "We must withdraw."

Chiyo nodded in confirmation before she sent her puppet at the Hokage. Sarutobi spun his staff in front of him, successfully blocking the poison needles that the puppet shot at him before raising Enma above his head and swinging it down, and at the same time extending it. Chiyo and her brother were able to dodge and escape into the trees with the Kazekage but the puppet was not so lucky. The staff came down so hard that it scattered the puppet and boulder where Chiyo was just in front of into hundreds of pieces.

Turning back around to see how the others were doing he smiled. This battle had been won, and if everything continued to go right and Naruto killed the Tsuchikage, Konoha may be looking at a long time of peace. Unless of course, the other Shinobi nations were too prideful to admit defeat.

Naruto landed on his feet slightly winded, and sheathed his sword. He looked around at what used to be a small clearing but now could only be described as...well he was not sure. He just knew he had made the clearing a lot bigger than it once was and created numerous craters. Trees that had once outlined the small clearing were either uprooted, shredded, or both, all thanks to his jutsu.

Naruto looked around, focusing on finding Onoki's chakra signature to see if he had done what he wanted and killed the old manic without showing off his more powerful jutsus. The smoke and cloud of dust were preventing him from seeing clearly, but that apparently did not stop Oshima, who although could no longer help him with jutsus or extend his senses, could at least feel the wind without her chakra and warn him of any attacks.

"_Behind_," she whispered urgently, and Naruto did not hesitate to form a Rasengan in his hand and turned, hitting the massive spiked ball that was connected to a chain. The ball fell apart even though it left long scratches on his right arm, and Naruto was able to see who had attacked him.

Onoki stood in front of him, a scroll on the ground that was used to summon the weapon, and he looked like he was barely able to stand. He was bleeding from cuts everywhere, even his huge nose, and Naruto could not help but smirk. Defeating this old traitor was a hell of a lot easier the second time around than the first. Naruto did not even have to go into sage mode, or use his best jutsus.

Onoki was not smirking though, and if he had a bloodline that could kill people with a look, Naruto would be dead by now. Onoki couldn't believe that he had lost to this young _boy. _Granted, he was ill prepared, caught by surprise, and was not expecting anyone the leaf sent to the north border and Kasaki besides Jiraiya to be able to take him on. He was proven wrong at first by no other than Jiraiya's student, Minato, who Onoki had to work hard on and think very hard of a battle plan to take him and his jutsu down.

And now there was this boy, who showed up out of nowhere, literally, and showed that his skills and chakra levels were at Kage level. Granted, he had used a lot of his chakra to fight Minato, but he still had plenty left at the start of this fight. Besides, chakra was only one aspect of a battle, especially one on one. Ability in taijutsu, ninjutsu, tactics, and overall skill were also of equal importance, and this kid had trumped him in all four.

As he began to gather his remaining chakra for his ultimate attack, he could not help but ponder how someone _else_ of S-Rank and Kage level potential could have possibly slipped by his own spy network. He also wondered what the hell made the leaf so strong in the first place that they were able to produce such strong ninjas. The three sannin, the White Fang, Sarutobi Hiruzen, the 'God of Shinobi', Danzo the Fire Breather, this boy Uzumaki Naruto, as well as Minato, who although was not at the skill level as the rest, was obviously getting close, were examples of the strong ninjas that were alive and fighting for the leaf today. It was utterly ridiculous that so much talent came from one place.

Naruto became very wary as the future Tsuchikage began going through a sequence of hand seals that Naruto had never seen Onoki go through before when he fought him, and was left at a dilemma on what to do. However, that decision was taken out of his hands when Onoki yelled out his jutsu.

"_**Jinton: Suffocating Death Ball**_," Onoki called out and pressed his palms together before slowly separating them. As he did so, a spinning dust ball about thirty feet in circumference appeared in front of him. As Onoki continued to separate his hands, the ball became larger and larger, it's spinning going faster and faster, and was becoming as tall and wide as many of the trees.

Everything the ball touched became invisible and Naruto could feel a small pull from the spinning ball as it tried to get him pulled into the dust ball, and was witness to many chunks of earth and trees left behind by his own _**Kaze Shu Okami**_ getting sucked in. Jumping back he formed a clone which immediately dispelled and closed his eyes. When he opened them again a couple seconds later, his eyes were a golden color, the pupils of his eyes now rectangular. The clone that he had used in the beginning had dispelled itself to give him the sage chakra Naruto had it gather just in case he needed it.

Summoning two more clones, he smirked. Fine, if the old man wanted to go out with a bang, Naruto would give him one. "You know what to do," he said to his clones as the spinning dust ball continued to suck in things around him and gained in size. Their answer was to go through a set of hand seals each, and the first to speak was the one on his left, followed by the one on his right.

"_**Kazeryudan no Jutsu**_," was followed by, "_**Katon: Karyuu Endan**_." Right when both jutsus were about to connect Naruto sucked in a breath and spit oil out of his mouth.

The fire dragon flame, the wind dragon, and oil hit each other at the same time and it created one of the most powerful combos Onoki would have ever seen, if he could have seen past his own jutsu. As it was, he was quite surprised when he felt something more powerful than his own jutsu hit his ball with a demanding force. He was actually afraid when he felt and saw his dust ball ignite on fire and began to disperse until he stared at what could be the scariest jutsu he had ever seen.

Without the ball to hold it back, the powerful dragon, fueled even more by the flames the dust ball gave it, reared its gigantic head, which was as big as his dust ball had gotten, and soared at him with the obvious intent to incinerate him. Onoki just stood there, his bleeding wounds hurting too much for him to move his muscles and with his lack of chakra he was not able to force them to. He closed his eyes waiting for the blow that never came.

Bleeding arms encircled his waist and he was put on someone's shoulder as they raced to gain distance away from the huge dragon. The man who had grabbed him had blond hair that was tied in a pony tail and reached to the middle of his back. The man looked back and saw that the Fire dragon was consuming anything in its path and was gaining on them way too quickly, and he had to wonder as he turned slightly to head into Iwa territory, if it was being somehow controlled. Now that thought freaked him the hell out.

Deciding on a plan, and hoping that it worked, he put his hand inside one of his pouches and gathered clay which his hand ate. When he thought it was ready, he took his hand out his pouch and opened his palm. Out of the small mouth on his hand, a hand sized bird crawled out. He threw it towards the fire dragon and paused only a second before he saw the clay bird's size suddenly increase tremendously, almost reaching half the size of the dragon's head. As soon as the dragon hit the bird, the bird exploded, causing a slight earthquake.

Bakudan Dei sped up in order to avoid the flames that were sure to be chasing them from his clays explosion. He knew that the flames would only increase from the explosion, but he also knew that with the rocky area that the dragon had chased them to, that it wouldn't do too much damage. Also, the explosion his clay C3 caused would disperse the dragon flames and cut off and stop the control of whomever it was that was controlling the dragon.

It worked, and all Dei had to do was wait for the flames that spread to stop, which did not take too long, before he put Onoki on the ground to check the old man's wounds. As Dei looked on, he couldn't help but cringe slightly at all the cuts on the small body, and cursed himself for not getting there in time to help his squad leader out with whoever he must have been fighting against.

Onoki had one eye open, the other slashed and bleeding out, and watched as Dei performed some medical jutsu to stop his wounds from bleeding.

"Where are your teammates?" he asked his subordinate in a low and painful voice.

Dei paused in his treatment for a second before continuing. "They are both dead," he said, no hint of remorse or grief in his voice. "As you fought the Minato kid like you wanted, I took on the black haired kid, Tanzania Sano I think his name was, as the other two took on the Hyuuga."

Onoki scowled as best he could, not knowing just how ugly he looked as he did it. "So the Hyuuga was able to kill both of them?" he asked and received a nod.

"That doesn't matter, senpai," he said. "We need to get you to the nearest village to receive medical attention, and then send for reinforcements to help out the Tsuchikage."

Onoki laughed at that, even though it hurt. "Do not worry about reinforcements," he said and Dei looked at him confused. "By the time they get there, the Tsuchikage will be dead."

Back in the clearing, Naruto frowned as he opened his eyes. He stared at the giant path his dragon had produced and thought about what had destroyed his control over the fire. It had looked remarkably close to what Deidara could do, if not the same thing. But if his calculations were right, Deidara shouldn't be born yet…

"Don't worry about it boss," his left clone said while grinning.

"Besides, we have a job to do," the one on his left said as he ruffled his hair.

Naruto grinned at both of them too and nodded. He'll deal with that Deidara wannabe when the time came, but for now he would do what the Sandaime had wanted him to do, and he and the three clones disappeared to where they needed to go via a Shunshin.

Kamizuru Vespa, the Nidaime Tsuchikage, stood on top of the Black Bear summons as he smiled victoriously. He was on the verge of doing something that not even his father, the first Tsuchikage, had ever done in all his years as a Kage before he died of old age.

He would take control of north Hi no Kuni, and if everything went according to plan, and judging by the fact the Sandaime Hokage was not here, then he might even be able to get close enough to Konoha to launch direct attacks. Kasaki village, which he could see now as he continued to push the giant toad and Jiraiya of the Sannin back, would be the first Fire nation village to fall.

He would be forever remembered as the first Kage to ever conquer Konoha, the supposedly strongest hidden village in the world, and his power over the other hidden villages would be supreme. People would soon hold parades singing his name as he rode horseback through the streets, and he would love it. He would prove that he and his clan are the best, despite what that old fool Onoki believed.

When his father had died and the voting for the next Kage took place, Onoki had tried to gain the position of power for his own small clan by saying that he should be given the position because of his experience as a shinobi. It had almost worked, until Vespa was able to show some forged documents that his father had supposedly left behind. The documents spoke of Konoha and their plans to take over both Tsuchi no Kuni and Kaze no Kuni within the next five years.

Vespa had used his dying father as a means for sympathy and respect and gained the support of most of the Iwa senate. He then flamed Onoki by stating that in the war that was to come Iwagakure and all of Tsuchi no Kuni could not afford a Kage who may die of old age before the war was won. Many older shinobi didn't like it, but they also could not default the logic. So the vote was cast and he became the Tsuchikage, and sent the false documents to Suna to gain their support.

Vespa smirked inside as he thought about that mission, which solidified the war they were now in. Suna nins were to meet up with his Iwa nins to be given the documents. As luck would have it, Hatake Sakumo and his three teammates had come across what he thought were eight Iwa nins exchanging scrolls. The Suna nins were dressed for the weather of the high mountains and had no identification on them, so it was actually a good assessment.

A battle ensued in which the White Fang and his team killed all but a mortally wounded Iwa nin and a very fast Suna kunoichi. The Suna nin would never have escaped if it weren't for the fact that Hatake decided to abandon his intercept mission to save his last two remaining teammates. So the Suna nin got away with the scroll and made it back to Suna. According to his spies, Konoha were still unaware of the contents of the scroll, the fact that they were not all Iwa nins, and the most important fact of all.

One of the Suna ninjas the White Fang killed was no other than the Kazekage's brother.

So Vespa's plans were successful, and now he was on the verge of conquering northern Hi no Kuni. It would not only give him a giant foothold to attack Konoha from, but also Ame no Kuni as well. Hopefully, after the business of killing that giant toad and Jiraiya and solidifying his control over the leaf, he would be able to kill that insufferable Hanzo.

But there was something that the Tsuchikage was not expecting, and that unsuspecting came in the form of a blond haired man that suddenly appeared behind him as he was watching the Black Bear's claws block the giant toad's sword. Turning, he looked at the man and wondered how he was able to stand so calmly on the Black Bear, whose fur literally sucked in all chakra that touched it other than the one who summoned it.

"Yo," the blond said as though bored. The Tsuchikage fully turned to face him and sneered.

"I can feel your chakra being absorbed," Vespa belied. "You cannot fight me and even hope to win. But if you kneel before me, I will show you mercy," he finished with a cocky laugh.

The blond with golden eyes tilted his head and frowned. "I don't like you," he said simply as his reply.

The Tsuchikage looked outraged at this. How dare he, did he not know who he was about to be killed by.

"Besides," the blond continued nonchalantly. "Your bear will no longer be a problem." As soon as he finished, the Black Bear let out a roar before disappearing in a poof of smoke.

Peace, Love, and Chicken Grease,

**Ame no Kuni**: Rain Country

**Hi no Kuni:** Fire Country

**Iwa no Kuni**: Earth Country

**Kaze no Kuni**: Wind Country

Jutsus:

**Kaze Battōjutsu:** Wind art of the Draw (or something like that )

**Ichijin no Jutsu**: Gust of Wind

**Jinton: Genkaihakuri no Jutsu**: Dust Element: Tearing World

**Kawarimi**: Body Switch

**Kaze Shu Okami**: Wind Scarlet Wolf

**Douton:** **Doryuu Taiga**: River of mud

**Douton: Doryuudan**: Earth Dragon Projectiles

**Katon: Karyuudan**: Fire Dragon Projectiles

**Kikō Junbū no Jutsu:** Mechanic Light Shield Seal

**Kazeryudan no Jutsu**: Wind Dragon

**Katon: Karyuu Endan**: Dragon Fire Flame Projectile


End file.
